GIFT  OF 
A.   P.   c/lor risen 


THE  MAXIMS  AND  BEFLECTIONS  OP  GOETHE 


GOETHE. 


THE 


MAXIMS   AND   INFLECTIONS 


OP 


GOETHE 

tt 


TRANSLATED  BY 

BAILEY  -S'AU'NDEKS 


WITH  A  PREFACE 


gotk 
THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 
1906 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1892, 
BY  MACMILLAN  &  CO. 


S«t  up  and  eleetrotj'pec?.    Published  May,  1893. 
NCVA 


J.  8.  Cushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  «fc  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  ......  1 

LIFE  AND  CHARACTER    ......  57 

LITERATURE  AND  ART 149 

SCIENCE 181 

NATURE  :  APHORISMS 205 

INDEX 215 


M103546 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 


TRANSLATOR'S ,  PREFACE  , 

.        •»••<>     •       ,>'  'j  ! 


THE  translation  of  Goethe's  "  Prose  Maxims  " 
now  offered  to  the  public  is  the  first  attempt 
that  has  yet  been  made  to  present  the  greater 
part  of  these  incomparable  sayings  in  English. 
In  the  complete  collection  they  are  over  a  thou- 
sand in  number,  and  not  more  perhaps  than  a 
hundred  and  fifty  have  already  found  their 
way  into  our  language,  whether  as  contribu- 
tions to  magazines  here  and  in  America,  or  in 
volumes  of  miscellaneous  extract  from  Goethe's 
writings.  Some  are  at  times  quoted  as  though 
they  were  common  literary  property.  To  say 
that  they  are  important  as  a  whole  would  be  a 
feeble  tribute  to  a  work  eloquent  for  itself,  and 
beyond  the  need  of  praise ;  but  so  deep  is  the 
wisdom  of  these  maxims,  so  wide  their  reach, 
so  compact  a  product  are  they  of  Goethe's 
wonderful  genius,  that  it  is  something  of  a 
reproach  to  literature  to  find  the  most  of  them 
3 


4  TRANSLATORS  PREFACE 

left  untranslated  for  the  sixty  years  they  have 
been  before  the  world.  From  one  point  of  view, 
the  neglect  they  have  suffered  is  in  no  way  sur- 
ptfeirig :  th6y  lark  too  high  and  severe  to  be  pop- 
ular BO  soon-;  and  when  they  meet  with  a  wide 
'.aijcie^fcarice,'^  with  othar  great  works,  much  of 
'it  Will  rest  upon  authority.  But  even  for  the 
deeper  side  of  his  writings,  Goethe  has  not  been 
denied  a  fair  measure  of  popular  success.  No 
other  author  of  the  last  two  centuries  holds  so 
high  a  place,  or,  as  an  inevitable  consequence, 
has  been  attacked  by  so  large  an  army  of  editors 
and  commentators ;  and  it  might  well  be  supposed 
by  now  that  no  corner  of  his  work,  and  least 
of  all  one  of  the  best,  had  remained  almost  un- 
noticed, and  to  the  majority  unknown.  Many 
of  these  maxims  were  early  translated  into 
French,  but  with  little  success;  and  even  in 
Germany  it  was  only  so  late  as  the  year  1870 
that  they  appeared  in  a  separate  form,  with  the 
addition  of  some  sort  of  critical  comment  and  a 
brief  explanation  of  their  origin  and  history.1 
But  although  to  what  is  called  the  reading 

1  Goethe's  Spruche  in  Prosa :  zum  ersten  Mai  erlautert 
und  auf  ihre  Quellen  zurtickgefuhrt  von  G.  v.  Loeper, 
Berlin,  1870.  This  forms  the  text  of  the  translation. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  5 

public  these  maxims  are  as  yet,  no  less  in  fact 
than  in  metaphor,  a  closed  book,  its  pages  have 
long  been  a  source  of  profit  and  delight  to  some 
of  those  who  are  best  able  to  estimate  their 
value.  What  that  value  is,  I  shall  presently 
endeavour  to  explain.  No  one,  I  think,  can 
perceive  their  worth  without  also  discerning 
how  nearly  they  touch  the  needs  of  our  own 
day,  and  how  greatly  they  may  help  us  in 
facing  certain  problems  of  life  and  conduct, 
some  of  them,  in  truth,  as  old  as  the  world 
itself,  which  appear  to  us  now  with  peculiar 
force  and  subtlety. 

It  was  in  this  respect  that  they  were  warmly 
recommended  to  me  some  years  ago  by 
my  excellent  friend,  Professor  Harnack,  the 
historian  of  Dogma,  a  writer  with  a  fine  and 
prudent  enthusiasm  for  all  ennobling  literature. 
It  is  to  him  that  I  owe  the  resolve  to  perform 
for  the  maxims,  as  far  as  I  could,  the  office  of 
translator ;  a  humble  office,  but  not,  as  I  have 
good  reason  to  know,  without  its  difficulty,  or, 
as  I  venture  to  hope,  without  its  use.  Of 
many  of  them  the  language  is  hardly  lucid 
even  to  a  German,  and  I  have  gratefully  to 
acknowledge  the  assistance  I  have  received 


6  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

from  the  privilege  of  discussing  them  with  so 
distinguished  a  man  of  letters. 

To  Professor  Huxley  I  am  also  deeply  in- 
debted. I  owe  him  much  for  friendly  encour- 
agement, and  still  more  for  help  of  an  alto- 
gether invaluable  kind;  for  in  its  measure  of 
knowledge  and  skill,  it  is  admittedly  beyond 
the  power  of  any  other  living  Englishman. 
The  maxims  deal,  not  alone  with  Life  and 
Character,  where  most  of  them  are  admirable, 
but  also  with  certain  aspects  of  Science  and 
Art;  and  these  are  matters  in  which  I  could 
exercise  no  judgment  myself,  although  I  under- 
stood that,  while  many  of  the  maxims  on 
Science  and  Art  were  attractive,  they  were  not 
all  of  great  merit.  Professor  Huxley  not  only 
did  me  the  honour  to  select  the  maxims  on 
Science,  but  he  was  further  good  enough  to 
assist  me  with  them,  and  to  read  and  approve 
the  translation  as  it  now  stands.  The  weight 
and  the  interest  of  his  authority  will  thus  give 
additional  value  to  that  section  of  the  book,  and 
also  do  much  to  overcome  the  objections  that 
exist  to  making  a  selection  at  all. 

For  a  selection  is  a  necessary  evil.  It  is  an 
evil  because,  even  if  it  leaves  the  best,  it  takes 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  7 

away  something  of  a  man's  work ;  if  it  shows 
us  the  heights  he  has  reached,  it  obliterates  the 
steps  of  his  ascent ;  it  endangers  thoughts  that 
may  be  important  but  imperfectly  understood; 
and  it  hinders  a  fair  and  complete  judgment. 
But  in  the  end  it  is  a  necessity:  we  are  con- 
cerned chiefly  with  the  best  and  clearest  results, 
and  it  is  only  the  few  who  care  to  follow  the 
elaborate  details  of  effort  and  progress,  often 
painful  and  obscure.  There  is  no  author  with 
whom,  for  most  readers,  selection  is  so  neces- 
sary as  it  is  with  Goethe ;  and  in  no  other  kind 
of  literature  is  it  so  amply  justified  or  so  clearly 
desirable  as  where  the  aim  is  to  state  broad 
truths  of  life  and  conduct  and  method  in  a 
manner  admitting  of  no  mistake  or  uncertainty. 
When  a  writer  attempts  achievements,  as  Goethe 
did,  in  almost  every  field  of  thought,  it  need  be 
no  surprise  to  any  one  who  has  heard  of  human 
fallibility  that  in  solid  results  he  is  not  equally 
successful  everywhere.  In  deciding  what  shall 
be  omitted,  there  is  no  difficulty  with  maxims 
which  time  has  shown  to  be  wrong  or  defective ; 
they  have  only  an  historical  interest.  But 
great  care  is  necessary  with  others  that  are 
tentative,  questionable,  or  obscure  enough  to 


8  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

need  the  light  of  a  commentary,  sometimes 
dubious;  where  for  most  of  us  there  is  never 
much  profit  and  always  occasion  for  stumbling. 
I  count  it  a  singular  piece  of  good  fortune  that 
the  choice  of  the  scientific  maxims  should  be 
undertaken  by  so  eminent  a  judge  of  their  prac- 
tical value,  who  is  also  a  scholar  in  the  language 
and  a  great  admirer  of  Goethe  in  his  other  and 
better  known  productions.  For  if  a  writer  of 
this  immense  versatility  cannot  always  hope  to 
touch  the  highest  goal,  it  is  well  that  all  his 
efforts  should  be  weighed  in  a  later  day  by  the 
best  and  friendliest  knowledge. 

The  maxims  on  Art  were  at  first  a  matter 
of  some  little  difficulty.  It  is  plain,  I  think, 
that  they  are  below  the  others  in  value  and 
interest;  and  in  any  collection  of  sayings 
the  less  there  is  of  general  worth,  the  more 
delicate  becomes  the  task  of  choosing  the  best. 
If  I  omitted  them  all,  the  selection  would  not 
be  duly  representative,  and  it  seemed  likely  that 
some  at  least  were  worthy  of  being  preserved, 
if  only  to  illustrate  Goethe's  theories.  I  there- 
fore sought  the  best  advice;  and  here  again  I 
have  to  tender  my  thanks  for  assistance  second 
to  none  in  skill  and  authority,  —  that  of  Sir 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  9 

Frederick  Leighton,  kindly  given  under  circum- 
stances which  much  increase  my  obligation. 
For  it  is  my  duty  to  say  that  Sir  Frederick 
Leighton  had  no  desire,  but  rather  reluctance, 
to  make  a  selection  from  maxims  on  Art  which 
he  was  often  not  prepared  to  endorse,  or  to 
regard  as  in  any  way  commensurate  with 
Goethe's  genius;  and  nevertheless  he  did  me 
the  honour  to  point  out  a  few  which  I  might 
insert,  as  being  of  interest  partly  for  their  own 
sake,  partly  also  for  the  name  of  their  author. 

The  maxims  on  Science  and  Art  are,  how- 
ever, when  taken  together,  hardly  a  fifth  of 
this  volume.  The  others  I  have  selected  on 
the  simple  and  I  hope  blameless  principle  of 
omitting  only  what  is  clearly  unimportant,  anti- 
quated, of  past  or  passing  interest,  of  purely 
personal  reference,  or  of  a  nature  too  abstruse 
to  stand  without  notes  of  explanation,  which  I 
should  be  sorry  to  place  at  the  foot  of  any  of 
these  pages.  I  have  also  omitted  eleven  maxims 
drawn  from  Hippocrates  On  Diet;  fifteen  con- 
taining an  appreciation  of  Sterne,  together  with 
some  twenty  more  which  Goethe  himself  trans- 
lated from  a  curious  work  wrongly  attributed 
to  that  writer.  It  will  be  convenient  if  I  state 


10  TRANSLATOR'S  PKEFACE 

that  I  have  thus  omitted  some  hundred  and 
twenty  out  of  the  six  hundred  and  fifty-five 
which  make  up  the  section  styled  in  the  origi- 
nal JUthisehes,  which  I  translate  by  Life  and 
Character,  the  section  which  also  contains  the 
maxims  on  Literature,  now  collected  and  placed 
in  a  separate  section  with  those  on  Art. 
Sir  Frederick  Leighton  chose  thirty-five  out 
of  a  hundred  and  eighteen  on  Art,  and 
Professor  Huxley  seventy-six  out  of  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty  on  Science. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  11 


II 

Having  thus  acknowledged  but  in  no  way 
discharged  a  triple  debt  of  gratitude,  it  will  be 
next  in  order  if  I  briefly  state  the  history  of  the 
work  which  now  appears  in  an  English  dress, 
before  attempting  to  speak  of  its  nature  and 
value. 

The  publication  of  the  maxims  belongs  to  the 
later,  that  is  to  say,  the  last  thirty,  years  of 
Goethe's  life ;  and  the  greater  number  of  them 
appeared  only  in  the  last  ten,  while  some  are 
posthumous. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  with  certainty  at  what 
period  he  began  the  observations  which  were 
afterwards  to  come  before  the  world  in  this 
shape ;  nor  is  the  question  of  any  real  interest 
except  to  pedantic  students  of  such  matters. 
It  is  probable  that,  like  most  writers,  Goethe 
was  in  the  habit  of  noting  transient  thoughts 
of  his  own,  as  well  as  opinions  of  others  that 
suggested  more  than  they  actually  conveyed; 
and  of  preserving  for  further  use  what  he  had 
thus,  in  his  own  words,  written  himself  and 


12  TRANSLATORS  PREFACE 

appropriated  from  elsewhere  —  Eigenes  und 
Angeeignetes.  The  maxims  grew  out  of  a 
collection  of  this  character.  It  was  a  habit 
formed  probably  in  early  life,  for  somewhere 
in  the  Lehrjahre  —  a  work  of  eighteen  years' 
duration,  but  begun  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven 
— he  makes  Wilhelm  Meister  speak  of  the 
value  of  it.  But  there  are  reasons  for  thinking 
that  most  of  the  maxims,  as  they  now  stand, 
were  not  alone  published  but  also  composed 
in  his  last  years.  The  unity  of  meaning  which 
stamps  them  with  a  common  aim ;  the  similarity 
of  the  calm,  dispassionate  language  in  which 
they  are  written ;  the  didactic  tone  that  colours 
them  throughout,  combine  to  show  that  they 
are  among  the  last  and  ripest  fruits  of  his 
genius.  Some  were  certainly  composed  between 
the  ages  of  fifty  and  sixty ;  more  still  between 
that  and  seventy ;  while  there  is  evidence,  both 
internal  and  external,  proving  that  many  and 
perhaps  most  of  them  were  his  final  reflections 
on  life  and  the  world.  This  it  is  that  adds  so 
much  to  their  interest  for  as  he  himself  finely 
says  in  one  of  the  last  of  them,  "  in  a  tranquil 
mind  thoughts  rise  up  at  the  close  of  life 
hitherto  unthinkable  ;  like  blessed  inward  voices 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  13 

alighting    in    glory   on    the    summits    of    the 
past." 

But  whenever  all  or  any  of  them  were  writ- 
ten, and  whatever  revision  they  may  have  un- 
dergone, none  were  published  until  1809,  when 
Goethe  was  sixty  years  of  age.  It  was  then 
that  he  brought  out  Die  Wahlverwandschaften. 
A  few  of  the  maxims  on  Life  and  Character 
were  there  inserted  as  forming  two  extracts 
from  a  journal  often  quoted  in  the  earlier  part 
of  the  story.  "  About  this  time,"  writes  Goethe, 
as  he  introduces  the  first  of  these  extracts, 
"outward  events  are  seldomer  noted  in  Ottilie's 
diary,  whilst  maxims  and  sentences  on  life  in 
general,  and  drawn  from  it,  become  more  fre- 
quent. But,"  he  adds,  uas  most  of  them  can 
hardly  be  due  to  her  own  reflections,  it  is  likely 
that  some  one  had  given  her  a  book  or  paper,  from 
which  she  wrote  out  anything  that  pleased  her." 
A  few  more  maxims  appeared  eight  years  later 
in  Kunst  und  Alterthum,  a  magazine  founded 
by  Goethe  in  1816  and  devoted  to  the  discussion 
of  artistic  questions ;  and  a  larger  number  first 
saw  the  light  in  the  same  publication  at  various 
dates  until  its  extinction  in  1828.  Some  of  the 
observations  on  Science  had  meanwhile  been 


14  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

incorporated  with  two  treatises  on  branches  of 
that  subject. 

Eckermann  tells  a  curious  story  of  the  way 
in  which  Goethe  then  continued  the  publication 
of  the  maxims.  Wilhelm  Meisters  Wanderjahre 
had  appeared  in  its  first  form  in  1821.  After- 
wards, in  1829,  Goethe  decided  to  remodel  and 
lengthen  it,  and  to  make  two  volumes  out 
of  what  had  originally  been  only  one.  His 
secretary  was  employed  to  copy  it  out  in  its 
revised  form.  He  wrote  in  a  large  hand,  which 
gave  the  impression  that  the  story  might  well 
fill  even  three  volumes ;  and  directions  to  this 
effect  were  sent  to  the  publisher.  But  it  was 
soon  discovered  that  the  last  two  volumes  would 
be  very  thin,  and  the  publisher  asked  for  more 
manuscript.  Goethe,  in  some  perplexity,  sent 
for  Eckermann,  and  producing  two  large  bundles 
of  unpublished  papers,  containing,  as  he  said, 
some  very  important  things,  — "  opinions  on 
life,  literature,  science  and  art,  all  mingled 
together,"  proposed  to  him  to  lengthen  out  the 
volumes  by  inserting  selections  from  them. 
"You  might,"  he  suggested,  "fill  the  gaps 
in  the  WanderjaJire  by  making  up  some  six  or 
eight  sheets  from  these  detached  pieces.  Strictly 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  15 

speaking,  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
story;  but  we  may  justify  the  proceeding  by 
the  fact  that  I  mention  an  archive  in  Makarie's 
house,  in  which  such  miscellanies  are  pre- 
served. In  this  way  we  shall  not  only  get  over 
our  difficulty,  but  find  a  good  vehicle  for  giving 
much  interesting  matter  to  the  world."  Ecker- 
mann  approved  the  plan,  and  divided  his  selec- 
tion into  two  parts  ;  and  when  the  new  edition 
of  the  Wanderjahre  appeared,  one  of  them  was 
styled  Aus  Makariens  Archiv,  and  the  other 
Betracthtungen  im  Sinne  der  Wanderer :  Kunst, 
JEthisches,  Natur.  The  remainder  of  the  unpub- 
lished maxims  appeared  posthumously,  either 
in  the  Nachgelassene  Werlce  in  1833,  or  in  the 
quarto  edition  of  1836. 

Instructions  had  been  given  to  Eckermann  to 
collect  all  the  maxims,  arrange  them  under 
different  heads,  and  include  them  in  appropriate 
volumes;  but  he  resolved  to  deviate  from  his 
instructions  to  the  extent  of  publishing  them 
all  together ;  and  the  alteration  is  certainly  an 
advantage.  A  slight  re-arrangement  was  made 
by  von  Loeper,  who  was  deterred  from  under- 
taking a  more  radical  one,  although  he  thought 
it  might  be  done  with  profit,  by  the  consideration 


16  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

that  when  a  literary  work  of  undesigned  and 
fortuitous :  form  has  lived  any  number  of  years 
in  a  certain  shape,  that  fact  alone  is  a  weighty 
argument  against  any  change  in  it.  In  a  trans- 
lation, perhaps,  where  the  work  is  presented 
anew  and  to  a  fresh  public,  the  change  might 
be  allowable ;  and  I  should  have  undertaken  it, 
had  there  not  been  a  more  serious  reason,  which 
von  Loeper  also  urges,  against  any  attempt  at 
systematic  re-arrangement:  the  further  fact, 
namely,  that  many  of  the  maxims  have  a  mixed 
character,  placing  them  above  our  distinctions 
of  scientific  and  ethical,  and  making  it  difficult 
to  decide  under  which  heading  they  ought  to 
fall.  I  have,  therefore,  generally  followed  the 
traditional  order;  with  this  exception,  that,  for 
obvious  reasons,  the  maxims  dealing  with  Liter- 
ature are  here  placed  together;  and  as  only  a 
few  of  those  on  Art  appear  in  these  pages,  I 
have  included  them  in  the  same  section.  In 
one  or  two  cases  I  have  united  closely  connected 
maxims  which  are  separated  in  the  original; 
and,  for  the  sake  of  a  short  title,  I  have  slightly 
narrowed  the  meaning  of  the  word  Spruch, 
which  applies  to  any  kind  of  shrewd  saying, 
whether  it  be  strictly  a  maxim  or  an  aphorism. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  17 

Some  little  liberties  of  this  kind  may,  I  think, 
be  taken  by  a  translator  anxious  to  put  the 
work  before  his  own  public  in  an  orderly  and 
convenient  form. 

The  last  section  in  this  book  requires  a 
word  of  explanation.  It  is  a  little  essay  on 
Nature  which  is  to  be  found  with  a  variety 
of  other  fragments  in  the  last  volume  of 
Goethe's  collected  works.  Too  short  to  stand 
by  itself,  if  it  appears  at  all,  it  must  be  in 
company  with  kindred  matter;  and  as  a  series 
of  aphorisms,  presenting  a  poetic  view  of  Nature 
unsurpassed  in  its  union  of  beauty  and  insight, 
it  is  no  inappropriate  appendage  to  the  maxims 
on  Science.  It  is  little  known,  and  it  deserves 
to  be  widely  known.  I  venture  to  think  that 
even  in  Germany  the  ordinary  reader  is  unaware 
of  its  existence.  For  us  in  England  it  was,  so 
to  speak,  discovered  by  Professor  Huxley,  who 
many  years  ago  gave  a  translation  of  it  as  a 
proem  to  a  scientific  periodical.  Perhaps  that 
proem  may  yet  be  recovered  as  good  salvage 
from  the  waters  of  oblivion,  which  sooner  or 
later  overwhelm  all  magazines.  Meanwhile  I 
put  forward  this  version. 

For  sixty  years  this  essay  has  stood  unques- 


18  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

tioned  in  Goethe's  works;  but  doubt  has 
recently  been  cast  on  its  authorship.  The 
account  hitherto  given  rests  upon  the  excellent 
ground  of  Goethe's  own  declaration.  The  essay, 
it  appears,  was  written  about  the  year  1780,  and 
offered  to  the  Duchess  Amalia.  Some  time 
after  her  death  it  was  found  amongst  her 
papers,  and  sent  to  Goethe  in  May,  1828,  when, 
as  he  wrote  to  his  friend  the  Chancellor  von 
Miiller,  he  could  not  remember  having  composed 
it;  although  he  recognised  the  writing  as  that 
of  a  person  of  whose  services  he  used  to  avail 
himself  some  forty  years  previously.  That  at 
so  great  a  distance  of  time  a  prolific  author 
could  not  recall  the  composition  of  so  short  a 
piece  is  not,  indeed,  improbable ;  but  Goethe 
proceeded  to  say  that  it  agreed  very  well  with 
the  pantheistic  ideas  which  occupied  him  at  the 
age  of  thirty,  and  that  his  insight  then  might 
be  called  a  comparative,  which  was  thus  forced 
to  express  its  strife  towards  an  as  yet  unattained 
superlative.  Notwithstanding  this  declaration, 
the  essay  is  now  claimed  as  the  production  of 
a  certain  Swiss  friend  of  Goethe's,  by  name 
Tobler,  on  external  evidence  which  need  not  be 
examined  here,  and  on  the  internal  evidence 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  19 

afforded  by  the  style,  which  is  certainly  more 
pointed  and  antithetic  than  is  usual  with 
Goethe.  But  a  master  of  language  who 
attempted  every  kind  of  composition  may  well 
have  attempted  this ;  and  even  those  who  credit 
an  otherwise  unknown  person  with  the  actual 
writing  of  the  essay  candidly  admit  that  it  is 
based  upon  conversations  with  Goethe.  It  is  so 
clearly  inspired  with  his  genius  that  he  can 
hardly  be  forced  to  yield  the  credit  of  it  to 
another. 


20  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 


HI 

It  is  no  wish  or  business  of  mine  to  introduce 
these  maxims  by  adding  one  more  to  the 
innumerable  essays,  some  of  them  admirable, 
which  have  been  written  on  Goethe.  I  have 
found  the  translation  of  one  of  his  works  a 
harder  and  certainly  a  more  profitable  task  than 
a  general  discourse  on  them  all;  and  I  pro- 
foundly believe  that,  rather  than  read  what  has 
been  written  on  Goethe,  it  is  very  much  better 
to  read  Goethe  himself.  It  is  in  this  belief  that 
I  hope  the  present  translation  may  help  in  a 
small  way  to  increase  the  direct  knowledge 
of  him  in  this  country.  But  there  are  some 
remarks  which  I  may  be  allowed  to  make  on  the 
nature  and  use  of  maxims,  and  the  peculiar 
value  of  those  of  Goethe ;  so  far,  at  least,  as 
they  deal  with  life  and  character  and  with  litera- 
ture. If  Professor  Huxley  could  be  induced 
to  publish  the  comments  which  he  made  to  me 
as  I  read  him  the  scientific  maxims,  besides 
being  the  best  of  introductions  to  that  section 
of  the  book,  they  would  form  a  keen  and  clear 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  21 

review  of  Goethe's  scientific  achievements,  and 
an  emphatic  testimony  to  his  wonderful  antici- 
pations of  later  theories. 

Between  a  maxim,  an  aphorism,  and  an 
apophthegm,  and  in  a  more  obvious  degree, 
between  these  and  an  adage  and  a  proverb,  the 
etymologist  and  the  lexicographer  may  easily 
find  a  distinction.  But  they  are,  one  and  all, 
fragments  of  the  wisdom  of  life,  treasured  up 
in  short,  pithy  sentences  that  state  or  define 
some  general  truth  of  experience ;  and  perhaps 
with  an  adage  and  a  maxim,  enjoin  its  practice 
as  a  matter  of  conduct.  In  the  literature  of 
every  age  there  have  been  writers  who,  instead 
of  following  a  less  severe  method,  thus  briefly  * 
record  the  lessons  taught  them  by  a  wide  view 
of  the  doings  of  men;  from  the  dim,  far-off 
beginnings  of  Ptah  Hotep  the  Egyptian  to  the 
authors  of  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon  and  the 
Book  of  Wisdom,  from  Theognis  and  Plutarch 
downwards  to  our  own  time.  They  give  us  the 
shrewdest  of  their  thoughts,  detached  from  the 
facts  which  gave  them  birth.  But  the  pro- 
fessed writers  of  maxims  are  not  the  only  or 
always  the  best  authors  of  them.  There  is  no 
great  writer  who  is  not  rich  in  wise  sentences  ; 


22  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

where  we  have  the  advantage  of  seeing  for 
ourselves  the  train  of  thought  that  induced  and 
the  occasion  that  called  them  forth.  Terse  and 
pregnant  sayings  are  scattered  innumerably 
through  the  pages  of  the  finest  poets,  the  great 
orators,  philosophers,  and  historians,  wherever 
they  touch  the  highest  level  of  truth  and  insight; 
be  it  in  the  lofty  interpretation  of  life,  the  de- 
fence of  action  or  policy,  the  analysis  of  char- 
acter and  conduct,  or  the  record  of  progress ; 
and  then  it  is  that  large  ideas  and  wide  obser- 
vations take  on  imperceptibly  the  nature  of 
maxim  or  aphorism,  illumining,  like  points  of 
light,  whole  fields  of  thought  and  experience. 
And  the  test  of  their  value  is  that  they  lose 
little  or  nothing  by  being  deprived  of  their  par- 
ticular context  and  presented  as  truths  of  gen- 
eral import.  A  collection  of  proverbs,  shrewd 
sayings,  and  pointed  expressions,  taken  from  the 
whole  range  of  Greek  and  Latin  literature,  was 
made  by  the  industry  of  Erasmus  in  his  great 
folio  of  Adagia;  and  perhaps  some  future 
student,  as  diligent  as  he,  may  gather  up  the 
aphoristic  wisdom  in  the  writings  of  modern 
times.  Goethe  himself  has  in  all  his  great 
works  a  wealth  of  aphorism  unsurpassed  by 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  23 

«iny  other  writer  whatever,  even  though  it  be 
Montaigne  or  Bacon  or  Shakespeare ;  and  say- 
ings of  his  not  to  be  found  in  this  collection 
are  some  of  the  best  that  he  uttered. 

The  besetting  sin  of  the  maxim-writer  is  to 
exaggerate  one  side  of  a  matter  by  neglecting 
another;  to  secure  point  and  emphasis  of  style 
by  limiting  the  range  of  thought;  and  hence  it 
is  that  most  maxims  present  but  a  portion  of 
truth  and  cannot  be  received  unqualified.  They 
must  often  be  brought  back  to  the  test  of  life 
itself,  and  confronted  and  compared  with  other 
sides  of  the  experience  they  profess  to  embody. 
And  when  a  maxim  stands  this  trial  and  proves 
its  worth,  it  is  not  every  one  to  whom  it  is  of 
value.  To  some  it  may  be  a  positive  evil.  It 
makes  the  strongest  appeal  to  those  who  never 
see  more  than  one  aspect  of  anything,  hardening 
their  hearts  and  blunting  their  minds ;  and  even 
to  those  who  could  make  a  good  use  of  it,  there 
are  times  when  it  may  mislead  and  be  dangerous. 
Maxims  in  their  application  seem  to  need  some- 
thing of  the  physician's  art :  they  must  be 
handled  with  care,  and  applied  with  discretion. 
Like  powerful  drugs  they  may  act  with  benefi- 
cent effect  on  a  hardy  constitution ;  they  may 


24  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

brace  it  to  effort,  or  calm  the  fever  of  a  mis- 
guided activity ;  but  great  is  the  mischief  they 
work  where  the  mind  is  weak  or  disorganised. 
As  a  medicine  may  save  a  man  at  one  time  that 
would  kill  him  at  another,  so  the  wise  counsel 
of  to-day  may  easily  become  the  poisonous 
suggestion  of  to-morrow. 

With  writers  who  depend  for  effect  on  mere 
qualities  of  style  and  ignore  the  weightier  mat- 
ters of  depth  and  truth  of  observation,  Goethe 
has  nothing  in  common ;  nor  with  those  who 
vainly  imagine  that  insight  is  a  kind  of  art, 
with  a  method  that  may  be  learned  and  applied. 
By  constant  practice  a  man  of  literary  talent 
may,  it  is  true,  attain  a  fair  mastery  of  language 
terse  and  attractive,  and  then  set  himself,  if  he 
will,  to  the  deliberate  creation  of  aphoristic 
wisdom  or  a  philosophy  of  proverbs ;  mistaking 
the  dexterous  handling  of  a  commonplace  for 
the  true  process  of  discovery.  The  popular 
literature  of  the  last  generation  supplies  a 
terrible  instance  of  the  length  to  which  the 
manufacture  of  maxims  can  thus  be  carried,  for 
a  time  with  immense  success;  and  we  have 
seen  how  a  few  years  suffice  to  carry  them  and 
their  author  to  obscurity.  How  different  is  the 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  '    25 

true  process  !  The  maxim  that  increases  know- 
ledge and  enriches  literature  is  of  slow  and  rare 
appearance ;  it  springs  from  a  fine  faculty  of 
observation  which  is  in  no  one's  arbitrament, 
and  only  less  rare  than  the  gift  of  utterance 
which  adds  charm  to  a  thought  that  itself  strikes 
home  with  the  power  of  impregnable  truth. 
No  amount  or  intensity  of  effort  will  alone  pro- 
duce it ;  but  to  the  mind  of  genius  it  comes  like 
a  sudden  revelation,  flashing  its  light  on  a  long 
course  of  patient  attention.  "  What  we  call 
Discovery"  says  Goethe,  "  is  the  serious  exercise 
and  activity  of  an  original  feeling  for  truth.  It 
is  a  synthesis  of  world  and  mind,  giving  the 
most  blessed  assurance  of  the  eternal  harmony 
of  things." 

It  is,  then,  depth  and  truth  and  sanity  of 
observation  which  chiefly  mark  these  sayings 
of  Goethe.  It  is  no  concern  of  his  to  dazzle  the 
mind  by  the  brilliance  of  his  wit ;  nor  does  he 
labour  to  say  things  because  they  are  striking, 
but  only  because  they  are  true.  He  is  always 
in  contact  with  realities,  always  aiming  at 
truth;  and  he  takes  a  kindly  and  a  generous 
view  of  the  world.  He  has  none  of  the  despair 
that  depresses,  none  of  the  malice  that  destroys. 


26  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

There  are  writers  who  profess  to  honour  a  lofty 
ideal  by  a  cynical  disparagement  of  everything 
that  falls  short  of  it;  who  unveil  the  selfish 
recesses  of  the  heart  as  a  mistaken  stimulus  to 
its  virtues ;  who  pay  their  tribute  to  great  work 
by  belittling  human  endeavour.  Goethe  shows 
us  a  more  excellent  way.  Touched  with  a 
profound  feeling  of  the  worth  of  life,  the  wisdom 
of  order,  the  nobility  of  effort,  he  gives  us  an 
ideal  to  pursue  and  shows  us  the  means  of  pur- 
suing it.  Out  of  the  fulness  of  a  large  experi- 
ence, unique  in  the  history  of  literature,  he 
unfolds  the  scheme  of  a  practicable  perfection, 
and  enforces  the  lessons  he  has  learned  from 
the  steady,  passionless,  and  undaunted  observa- 
tion of  human  affairs. 

To  Goethe  these  sayings  were  merely  reflec- 
tions or  opinions;  it  is  his  literary  executors 
and  his  editors  who  called  them  by  more  ambi- 
tious titles,  so  as  to  challenge  a  comparison 
with  certain  other  famous  books  of  wise  thought. 
They  are  the  reflections  of  a  long  life  rich  in 
all  the  intellectual  treasures  of  the  world,  in  its 
versatility  amazing,  in  its  insight  well-nigh 
fathomless;  a  life  that,  in  his  own  words, 
approached  the  infinite  by  following  the  finite 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  27 

on  every  side.  Such  a  man  need  only  speak  to 
utter  something  important ;  and  we  on  our  part 
need  only  remember  how  wide  was  the  range 
of  his  knowledge,  how  full  and  complete  his 
existence,  to  set  the  utmost  value  on  his 
reflections  at  the  end  of  it.  But  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  the  pinch  of  poverty  and  was  spared 
the  horrors  of  disease,  that  he  suffered  no  great 
misfortune,  and  basked  in  the  bright  side  of 
the  world,  free  from  the  ills  that  come  to  most 
men,  there  was  no  page  of  the  book  of  life  that 
was  not  thrown  open  to  him.  The  things  of 
the  mind,  the  things  of  art,  the  things  of  nature 
—  in  their  theory  and  in  their  practice  he  had 
worked  at  them  all ;  regarding  them  as  so  many 
varied  manifestations  of  an  eternal  Idea  in  itself 
inscrutable  and  here  unattainable.  There  was  no 
kind  of  literature  with  which  he  was  unfamiliar, 
whether  it  was  ancient  or  modern,  of  the  East 
or  of  the  West;  and  the  great  spiritual  influ- 
ences of  the  world,  Hebraism,  Hellenism,  Christ- 
ianity, Medievalism,  —  at  one  or  another  time 
in  his  life  he  was  in  touch  with  them  all, 
and  found  his  account  in  them  all.  In  mat- 
ters of  learning  he  was  occupied  with  nothing 
but  what  was  actual  and  concrete ;  it  was 


2S  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

only  to  abstract  studies,  to  logic,  metaphysics, 
mathematics,  that  he  was  indifferent;  in  his 
own  phrase,  he  never  thought  about  thinking. 
There  was  hardly  any  branch  of  the  natural 
science  of  his  day  that  he  did  not  cultivate,  that 
he  did  not  himself  practise;  geology,  miner- 
alogy, botany,  zoology,  anatomy,  meteorology, 
optics;  and  he  made  some  remarkable  discov- 
eries and  the  strangest  prophecies.  To  Art  he 
gave  a  life-long  devotion.  While  still  a  youth, 
he  wrote  an  important  essay  on  Gothic  architect- 
ure ;  he  engraved,  drew,  painted,  and  for  a  time 
took  up  sculpture.  In  all  the  higher  forms  of 
Art,  with  the  single  exception  of  music,  he  had 
so  much  practical  interest  that  he  often  doubted 
whether  in  following  Literature  he  had  not 
mistaken,  or  at  least  unduly  narrowed,  the 
sphere  of  his  activity.  He  was  little  abroad, 
but  no  one  ever  profited  more  by  his  travels 
than  Goethe.  Twice  he  went  to  Italy,  and  what 
a  change  of  mind  was  produced  by  that  change 
of  sky !  Rome  was  to  him  a  new  birth,  a  new 
conception  of  life.  And  besides  Literature, 
Science,  and  Art,  he  busied  himself  with  Admin- 
istration, with  the  duties  of  the  Court,  with  the 
practical  details  of  the  Theatre ;  but  out  of 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  29 

them  all  he  learned  something  himself  and 
taught  something  to  others.  He  lived  the 
fullest  life  granted  to  man.  He  had  a  youth 
of  the  wildest  enthusiasm  and  romance;  a  prime 
of  a  classic  austerity,  of  a  calm  earnestness ;  a 
majestic  age  of  the  ripest  wisdom,  when  there 
came  to  him,  as  it  were,  a  second  youth,  with 
something  of  the  fire  of  the  old  romantic  feeling 
lighted  up  in  him  anew.  And  out  of  all  these 
prodigious  efforts  in  so  many  directions,  he 
passed  unharmed,  and  never  lost  himself.  He 
steadily  pursued  his  own  task  and  refused  to 
be  drawn  aside.  He  stood  aloof  from  the  con- 
troversies of  his  time.  The  battles  of  belief, 
philosophical  systems,  French  Revolutions,  Wars 
of  Liberation,  struggles  of  democracy  and  nation- 
ality,— these  things  moved  him  little  or  not  at 
all.  But  he  is  not  on  that  account  to  be  held, 
as  some  foolish  critics  have  held  him,  indifferent, 
selfish,  or  less  serious,  or  less  complete  a  man 
than  his  fellows.  He  did  the  best  in  any  one's 
power :  he  resolutely  kept  to  his  own  business, 
and,  neither  hasting  nor  resting,  worked  at  his 
own  high  aims,  in  the  struggle  not  merely  to 
learn  and  to  know,  but  to  act  and  to  do.  He 
felt  profoundly  that  the  best  anyone  can  achieve 


30  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

for  himself  is  often  the  best  he  can  achieve  for 
others.  The  whole  moral  of  WilTielm  Meister  is 
that  a  man's  first  and  greatest  duty,  whether  to 
others  or  to  himself,  is  to  see  that  his  business 
in  life  is  a  worthy  one  and  suited  to  his  capa- 
cities. If  he  discovers  his  vocation  and  pursues 
it  steadily,  he  will  make  his  outer  life  of  the 
greatest  use  and  service  to  the  world,  and  at  the 
same  time  produce  the  utmost  harmony  within. 
That  was  what  Goethe  tried  to  do  in  his  own 
person,  and  he  laboured  at  his  self-imposed  task 
with  a  perseverance,  a  real  unselfishness,  and  a 
determination  entirely  admirable. 

It  is  almost  the  last  fruit  of  this  life  of  con- 
centrated activity,  the  final  outcome  of  this 
indomitable  character,  that  is  here  put  before 
us.  And  we  shall  find  that  to  the  complex 
phenomena  of  the  world  Goethe  applied  no 
other  measure  but  reason  and  the  nature  and 
needs  of  man.  With  a  full  consciousness  of  the 
mysteries  that  surround  our  existence,  he  never 
made  the  futile  endeavour  to  pass  beyond  the 
bounds  of  present  knowledge  and  experience, 
or  to  resolve  contradictions  by  manipulating 
the  facts.  In  these  detached  reflections  he 
does,  indeed,  propound  a  theory  and  sketch  out 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  31 

a  system  of  conduct ;  but  they  cannot,  like  the 
Thoughts  of  Pascal,  for  instance,  be  brought 
under  a  single  and  definite  point  of  view.  They 
are  a  mirror  of  life  itself,  and  the  inner  and 
outer  facts  of  life  in  all  their  diversity.  The 
unity  they  possess  is  the  unity  that  is  stamped 
upon  them  by  the  all-embracing  personality  of 
their  author,  always  and  unweariedly  striving 
to  make  his  life  systematic,  distinct,  and  fruit- 
ful ;  and  to  judge  them  as  a  whole,  a  man  must 
be  able  to  fathom  so  great  a  genius.  But  to 
every  one  in  every  walk  of  life  Goethe  has  a 
word  of  wise  counsel,  as  though  he  understood 
every  form  of  existence  and  could  enter  into  its 
needs.  In  a  fine  passage  in  the  Wander yahre, 
he  likens  the  thought  that  thus  in  wondrous 
fashion  takes  a  thousand  particular  shapes,  to 
a  mass  of  quicksilver,  which,  as  it  falls,  separ- 
ates into  innumerable  globules,  spreading  out 
on  all  sides.  And  while  these  sayings  may 
present  thoughts  in  seeming  contradiction  one 
with  another,  as  the  moment  that  called  them 
forth  presented  this  or  that  side  of  experience, 
their  inmost  nature  is  a  common  tendency  to 
realise  a  great  ideal  of  life.  It  is  little  they  owe 
to  the  form  in  which  they  are  cast;  they  are 


32  TKAKSLATOK'S  PREFACE 

not  the  elements  of  an  artistic  whole  which 
must  be  seized  before  we  can  understand  the 
full  meaning  of  its  parts.  They  are  a  miscel- 
laneous record  of  the  shrewdest  observation; 
and  to  read  them  as  they  should  be  read,  a  few 
at  a  time,  is  like  the  opportunity  of  repeated 
converse  with  a  man  of  extraordinary  gifts,  great 
insight,  and  the  widest  culture,  who  touches  pro- 
foundly and  suggestively  now  on  this,  now  on 
that  aspect  of  life  and  the  world  and  the  progress 
of  knowledge.  It  is  the  fruit  of  his  own  exper- 
ience that  Goethe  gives  us;  and  we  shall  do 
well  to  think  of  it  as  he  himself  thought  of 
another  book,  and  to  bear  in  mind  that  "  every 
word  which  we  take  in  a  general  sense  and 
apply  to  ourselves,  had,  under  certain  circum- 
stances of  time  and  place,  a  peculiar,  special, 
and  directly  individual  reference." 

Goethe  is  no  exception  to  the  rest  of  mankind 
in  not  being  equally  wise  at  all  times,  and  in 
the  maxims  there  are  degrees  of  value :  they  do 
not  all  shine  with  the  like  brilliance.  Some 
of  them  are  valuable  only  for  what  they  sug- 
gest ;  of  some,  again,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  they 
appear  as  matters  of  speculation  rather  than 
as  certainties.  They  raise  difficulties,  ask  for 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  33 

criticism,  if  possible,  correction ;  or,  it  may  be, 
they  call  attention  to  the  contrary  view  and 
invite  a  harmony  of  opposites.  Some  of  them 
make  a  great  demand  upon  our  ability  "to 
understand  a  proverb  and  the  interpretation ; 
the  words  of  the  wise  and  their  dark  sayings." 
Their  value  sometimes  depends  on  the  way 
they  are  viewed,  the  culture  brought  to  their 
understanding,  the  temper  in  which  they  are 
approached.  We  look  at  them,  and  at  first 
admire ;  we  change  our  point  of  view,  and  find 
something  to  criticise  and  dispute.  The  ob- 
scurity of  maxims,  as  Goethe  reminds  us,  is  only 
relative;  not  everything  can  be  explained  to 
the  reader  which  was  present  to  the  mind  of 
the  writer.  Some  of  them  seem  at  first  to  be 
of  little  interest ;  on  one  side  they  may  even 
repel,  but  from  another  they  attract  again,  and 
win  perhaps  a  partial  approval.  They  seem  to 
move  as  we  change  our  position,  and  to  be 
without  fixed  or  certain  character.  But  some, 
again,  are  so  clear  and  unmistakable,  so  im- 
measurably above  criticism  or  objection,  that 
like  the  furthest  of  the  stars  they  have  no 
parallax :  whatever  position  we  take,  their  light 
is  steadfast. 


34  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

Let  no  one  suppose  that  in  the  main  Goethe's 
reflections  on  life  had  never  been  made  before ; 
that  it  was  not  so,  no  one  knew  better  than  he. 
As  a  preface  and  note  of  warning  to  them  all, 
he  reiterates  the  words  of  the  preacher :  "  there 
is  no  new  thing  under  the  sun."  Yes !  says 
Goethe,  there  is  nothing  worth  thinking  but  it 
has  been  thought  before;  we  must  only  try  to 
think  it  again.  "  It  is  only  when  we  are  faith- 
ful," he  says  elsewhere,1  "in  arresting  and 
noting  our  present  thoughts,  that  we  have  any 
joy  in  tradition ;  since  we  find  the  best  thoughts 
already  uttered,  the  finest  feelings  already  ex- 
pressed. This  it  is  that  gives  us  the  percep- 
tion of  that  harmonious  agreement  to  which 
man  is  called,  and  to  which  he  must  conform, 
often  against  his  will ;  as  he  is  much  too  fond 
of  fancying  that  the  world  begins  afresh  with 
himself."  What  Goethe  means  is  that  we  shall 
do  best  to  find  out  the  truth  of  all  things  for 
ourselves,  for  on  one  side  truth  is  individual ; 
and  that  we  shall  be  happy  if  our  individual 
truth  is  also  universal,  or  accords  with  the 
wisest  thought  of  the  past.  It  is  in  this  prac- 
tical light  that  we  must  view  the  maxims,  and 
1  Willielm  Meisters  Wanderjahre,  Bk.  L  ch.  10. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  35 

not  as  mere  academic  generalities.  It  is  easy 
to  read  them  in  an  hour  and  forget  them  as 
soon ;  easy  to  view  them  with  a  tepid  interest 
as  the  work  of  a  great  author ;  but  no  one  will- 
fully understand  the  value  of  any  of  them,  who 
has  not  experience  enough  to  know  its  truth. 
Well  is  it  for  us  if  with  the  experience  we  also 
gain  the  truth !  If  any  one  should  say  that 
some  of  these  maxims  are  very  obvious,  and 
so  simply  true  as  almost  to  be  platitudes,  I 
would  bid  him  remember  that  the  best  educa- 
tion is  often  to  discover  these  very  simple  truths 
for  oneself,  and  learn  to  see  how  much  there  is 
in  commonplaces.  For  those  who  have  grown 
old  in  the  world  are  never  weary  of  telling  us 
that  the  further  we  go,  the  more  we  shall  find, 
in  general,  that  the  same  things  will  happen 
to  us  as  have  happened  to  others;  and  it  will 
then  be  our  advantage  if  we  have  the  same 
reflections,  best  of  all  if  we  come  of  ourselves 
to  the  same  conclusions,  as  the  wisest  of  those 
who  have  gone  before  us ;  next  best,  if  we  can 
really  and  intelligently  follow  in  the  footsteps 
of  their  thought. 

But  although  the  matter  of  Goethe's  sayings 
is  not  original  in  the  sense  of  being  new  to  the 


36  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

world  —  while  it  was  original  for  him,  since 
he  discovered  it  for  himself  and  on  his  own 
path,  their  manner  is  something  new,  and  their 
range  is  unparalleled.  Take  any  other  set  of 
maxims  you  will,  nowhere  is  there  so  wide  an 
outlook,  nowhere  so  just  an  estimate  of  human 
difficulties,  nowhere  an  aim  at  once  so  lofty  and 
so  practicable.  Nowhere  is  there  a  larger, 
stronger,  healthier,  more  tolerant  view  of  life 
and  the  world,  or  an  atmosphere  clearer  of 
the  mists  that  too  often  obscure  and  distort 
our  vision.  And  in  their  expression,  nowhere 
is  there  so  little  of  the  besetting  sin  to  sacrifice 
truth  to  effect.  Goethe  has  none  of  the  shallow 
malice  and  uncharitable  candour  that  with 
writers  of  an  earlier  age  passed  for  the  practical 
wisdom  of  every  day ;  and  we  need  only  con- 
trast his  maxims  with  the  similar  work  of  La 
Rochefoucauld,  Helvetius,  and  Chamfort,  ad- 
mirable as  they  may  be  in  their  exposure  of 
human  selfishness,  to  determine  on  which  side 
is  the  greater  service  to  mankind.  How  differ- 
ent the  views  of  the  world  taken  by  how  many 
writers! — the  secret  of  it  all  is  that  the  men 
themselves  are  different. 

It  was  said  of  Goethe  that  his  heart,  which 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  37 

few  knew,  was  as  great  as  his  intellect,  which 
all  knew.  Certainly  his  writings  and  not  least 
his  maxims  are  a  profound  example  of  the  truth 
that  in  the  last  resort  it  is  moral  rather  than 
intellectual  qualities  that  make  great  literature. 
It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  much  may  be  done 
by  a  mere  facility  of  style,  a  command  of  words, 
a  fine  taste,  a  wide  acquaintance  with  the  turns 
and  resources  of  language ;  but  in  the  end  the 
effect  is  produced  by  the  man  himself,  his  char- 
acter and  his  strength.  To  the  strenuous, 
earnest  man,  like  Goethe,  the  world  offers  a 
stirring  spectacle  and  provides  a  great  opportu- 
nity ;  and  he  grasps  and  uses  them  both  to  the 
best  of  his  peculiar  capacity.  It  is  diversity 
of  temperament  dealing  with  partial  knowledge 
that  makes  so  many  and  such  various  doctrines. 
A  man's  views  of  life  are,  in  short,  those  which 
he  deserves  to  have,  and  his  writings  are  cast 
in  the  mould  of  his  character.  It  is  no  more 
strange  that  the  authors  of  books  should  give 
us  such  varied  pictures  of  the  humanity  around 
us,  than  that  painters  should  conceive  natural 
objects  so  differently.  Literature,  too,  is  like 
a  gallery  of  landscape  and  portrait:  it  is  the 
same  world  which  is  presented,  the  same  men 


38  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

and  things ;  but  the  way  of  looking  at  it  varies 
with  the  artist ;  who,  whatever  his  training  may 
have  been,  will  see  in  Nature  what  he  brings 
to  it  himself.  Ars  est  homo  additus  naturce. 
If  this  be  truly  to  define  the  essence  and  method 
of  Art,  it  is  equally  true  to  say  that  Literature 
is  man  added  to  life ;  and,  here  as  there,  every- 
thing depends  on  the  character  and  capacity 
of  the  man. 

No  one  has  as  yet  said  that  he  doubts  Goethe's 
capacity,  although  there  are  many  who  have 
solemnly  pronounced  him  uninteresting.  The 
critic  who  can  read  Goethe's  works  with  real 
attention,  and  then  venture  to  call  them  dull, 
is  simply  showing  that  he  has  no  call  to  the 
office  he  assumes,  or  no  interest  in  literature  of 
the  highest  class.  What  is  true,  of  course,  is 
that  Goethe  is  profoundly  serious,  and  he  is, 
therefore,  not  always  entertaining ;  but  that  is 
enough  to  make  him  pass  for  dull  in  the  eyes 
of  those  who  take  literature  only  as  a  pastime, 
—  a  substitute  for  a  cigar,  or  something  to  lull 
them  to  sleep  when  they  are  tired.  But  another 
and  more  formidable  accusation  is  made  against 
Goethe  which  affects  his  character,  and  would 
go  far  to  destroy  the  value  of  his  writings  if  it 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  39 

were  true ;  but  to  many  it  is  curiously  inconsis- 
tent with  the  other  charge  of  being  dull.  It 
is  that  he  is  immoral.  Now  of  all  the  great 
writers  of  the  world,  Goethe  is  admittedly  the 
greatest  teacher.  He  is  essentially  and  frankly 
didactic ;  and  nowhere  is  there  so  large  and 
worthy  a  body  of  literature  from  a  single  pen 
which  is  informed  with  so  high  and  so  serious  a 
purpose.  Roundly  to  call  its  author  immoral 
is  a  charge  which  sufficiently  refutes  itself  by 
its  own  ignorance  and  absurdity.  The  charge 
comes,  as  a  rule,  from  those  who  judge  life  by 
the  needs  and  duties  of  a  young  girl,  and  they 
confound  the  whole  of  morality  —  character  and 
conduct  in  all  relations  to  one's  fellow-men  — 
with  one  section  of  it.  They  forget  that  Goethe 
was  a  man  of  the  old  regime ;  that  his  faults 
were  those  of  his  time  and  class.  They  forget 
that  an  extreme  repugnance  to  all  monasticism, 
asceticism,  and  Roman  Catholicism  in  general, 
naturally  led  him  to  pay  a  diminished  regard  to 
the  one  virtue  of  which  the  Christian  world  is 
sometimes  apt  to  exaggerate  the  importance,  and 
on  which  it  is  often  ready  to  hang  all  the  law  and 
the  prophets.  To  some,  again,  Goethe  appears 
to  be  a  supremely  selfish  wizard,  dissecting 


40  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

human  passion  in  the  coldest  blood,  and  making 
poetical  capital  out  of  the  emotional  tortures  he 
caused  in  others.  This,  too,  is  a  charge  which 
the  merest  acquaintance  with  his  life  and  work 
must  of  necessity  refute :  it  is  too  simple  a 
slander  to  be  seriously  discussed.  Since  these 
are  charges  which  have,  however,  kept  many 
estimable  people  from  reading  Goethe,  it  may 
be  some  consolation  to  them  to  know  that  the 
maxims  are  entirely  free  from  any  possibility 
of  objection  on  this  ground. 

The  element  of  moral  teaching  which  runs 
through  Goethe's  mature  works  like  a  golden 
thread,  re-appears  in  the  maxims  free  and  de- 
tached from  the  poetic  and  romantic  environ- 
ment which  in  such  varied  shapes  is  woven 
around  it  in  Werther,  Tasso,  Meister,  above 
all  in  Faust.  To  do  the  next  duty;  to  meet 
the  claims  of  each  day ;  to  persist  with  a  single 
mind  and  unwearied  effort  on  a  definite,  posi- 
tive,, productive  path ;  cheerfully  to  renounce 
what  is  denied  us,  and  vigorously  to  make  the 
best  of  what  we  have ;  to  restrain  vague  desires 
and  uncertain  aims ;  to  cease  bewailing  the 
vanity  of  all  things  and  the  fleeting  nature  of 
this  our  world,  and  do  what  we  can  to  make 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  41 

our  stay  in  it  of  lasting  use, — these  are  lessons 
which  will  always  be  needed,  and  all  the  more 
needed  as  life  becomes  increasingly  complex. 
They  are  taught  in  the  maxims  with  a  great 
variety  of  application,  and  nowhere  so  concisely 
summarised  as  in  one  of  them.  "  The  mind 
endowed  with  active  powers,"  so  it  runs,  "  and 
keeping  with  a  practical  object  to  the  task  that 
lies  nearest,  is  the  worthiest  there  is  on  earth." 

Goethe  has  been  called,  and  with  truth,  the 
prophet  of  culture;  but  the  word  is  often  mis- 
understood. We  cannot  too  clearly  see  that 
what  is  here  meant  is  not  a  mere  range  of 
intellectual  knowledge,  pursued  with  idolatrous 
devotion  :  it  is  moral  discipline,  a  practical  en- 
deavour, forming  wise  thought  and  noble  char- 
acter. And  this  is  the  product,  not  of  learning, 
but  of  work :  if  we  are  to  know  and  realise 
what  there  is  in  us,  and  make  the  best  of  it, 
our  aim  must  be  practical  and  creative.  "  Let 
every  man,"  he  urges,  "  ask  himself  with  which 
of  his  faculties  he  can  and  will  somehow  influ- 
ence his  age."  And  again :  "  From  this  time 
forward,  if  a  man  does  not  apply  himself  to 
some  art  or  handiwork,  he  will  be  in  a  bad  way. 
In  the  rapid  changes  of  the  world,  knowledge  is 


42  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

no  longer  a  furtherance.  By  the  time  a  man 
has  taken  note  of  everything,  he  has  lost  him- 
self." The  culture  of  which  he  speaks  is  not 
mainly  intellectual.  We  use  the  word  in  a  way 
that  is  apt  to  limit  and  conceal  its  meaning, 
and  we  often  apply  it  to  a  strange  form  of 
mental  growth,  at  once  stunted  and  overfed,  to 
which,  if  we  may  judge  by  its  fruits,  any  breath 
of  real  culture  would  be  fatal.  It  has  nothing 
to  do  with  learning  in  the  general  and  narrow 
sense  of  the  word,  or  with  the  often  pernicious 
effects  of  mere  learning.  In  the  language  of 
the  hour  we  are  wont  to  give  the  exclusive 
name  of  culture  to  a  wide  acquaintance  with 
books  and  languages ;  whether  or  not  it  results, 
as  it  has  before  now  resulted,  in  a  want  of 
culture  in  character  and  outward  demeanour, 
in  airs  of  conceit,  in  foolish  arrogance,  in  malice 
and  acrimony. 

A  uniform  activity  with  a  moral  aim  - 
that,  in  Goethe's  view,  is  the  highest  we  can 
achieve  in  life.  "  Character  in  matters  great 
and  small  consists,"  he  says,  "in  a  man  steadily 
pursuing  the  things  of  which  he  feels  him- 
self capable."  It  is  the  gospel  of  work:  our 
endeavour  must  be  to  realise  our  best  self  in 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  43 

deed  and  action;  to  strive  until  our  person- 
ality attains,  in  Aristotle's  word,  its  entelechy, 
its  full  development.  By  this  alone  can  we 
resolve  all  the  doubts  and  hesitations  and  con- 
flicts within  that  undermine  and  destroy  the 
soul.  "Try  to  do  your  duty,  and  you  will 
know  at  once  what  you  are  worth."  And  with 
all  our  doing,  what  should  be  the  goal  of  our 
activity?  In  no  wise  our  own  self,  our  own 
weal.  "  A  man  is  happy  only  when  he  delights 
in  the  goodwill  of  others,"  and  we  must  of  a 
truth  "  give  up  existence  in  order  to  exist "  ; 
we  must  never  suppose  that  happiness  is  iden- 
tical with  personal  welfare.  In  the  moral  sphere 
we  need,  as  Kant  taught,  a  categorical  impera- 
tive; but,  says  Goethe,  that  is  not  the  end  of 
the  matter;  it  is  only  the  beginning.  We  must 
widen  our  conception  of  duty  and  recognise  a 
perfect  morality  only  "where  a  man  loves  what 
he  commands  himself  to  do."  "  Voluntary  de- 
pendence is  the  best  state,  and  how  should 
that  be  possible  without  love?"  And  just  in 
the  same  sense  Goethe  refuses  to  regard  all  self- 
denial  as  virtuous,  but  only  the  self-denial  that 
leads  to  some  useful  end.  All  other  forms  of 
it  are  immoral,  since  they  stunt  and  cramp  the 


44  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

free  development  of  what  is  best  in  us  —  the 
desire,  namely,  to  deal  effectively  with  our 
present  life,  and  make  the  most  and  fairest 
of  it. 

And  here  it  is  that  Goethe's  moral  code  is 
fused  with  his  religious  belief.  "Piety,"  he 
says,  "  is  not  an  end  but  a  means :  a  means  of 
attaining  the  highest  culture  by  the  purest  tran- 
quillity of  soul."  This  is  the  piety  he  preaches ; 
not  the  morbid  introspection  that  leads  to  no 
useful  end,  the  state  of  brooding  melancholy,  the 
timorous  self-abasement,  the  anxious  speculation 
as  to  some  other  condition  of  being.  And  this 
tranquillity  of  soul,  Goethe  taught  that  it  should 
be  ours,  in  spite  of  the  thousand  ills  of  life 
which  give  us  pause  in  our  optimism.  It  is 
attained  by  the  firm  assurance  that,  somewhere 
and  somehow,  a  power  exists  that  makes  for 
moral  good ;  that  our  moral  endeavours  are  met, 
so  to  speak,  half-way  by  a  moral  order  in  the 
universe,  which  comes  to  the  aid  of  individual 
effort.  And  the  sum  and  substance  of  his  teach- 
ing, whether  in  the  maxims  or  in  any  other  of 
his  mature  productions,  is  that  we  must  resign 
ourselves  to  this  power,  in  gratitude  and  rev- 
erence towards  it  and  all  its  manifestations 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  45 

in  whatever  is  good  and  beautiful.  This  is 
Goethe's  strong  faith,  his  perfect  and  serene 
trust.  He  finely  shadows  it  forth  in  the  closing 
words  of  Pandora,  where  Eos  proclaims  that  the 
work  of  the  gods  is  to  lead  our  efforts  to  the 
eternal  good,  and  that  we  must  give  them  free 
play :  — 

Was  zu  wiinschen  ist,  ihr  unten  f iihlt  es ; 
Was  zu  geben  sei,  die  wissen's  droben. 
Gross  beginnet  ihr  Titanen  ;  aber  leiten 
Zu  dem  ewig  Guten,  ewig  Schonen, 
Ist  der  Gotter  Werk ;  die  lasst  gewahren. 

And  so  too  in  Faust :  it  is  the  long  struggle 
to  realise  an  Ideal,  dimly  seen  on  life's  labyrin- 
thine way  of  error,  that  leads  at  last  to  the 
perfect  redemption :  — 

Wer  immer  strebend  sich  bemiiht, 
Den  konnen  wir  erlosen. 

And  throughout  the  perplexities  of  life  and 
the  world,  where  all  things  are  but  signs  and 
tokens  of  some  inner  and  hidden  reality,  it  is 
the  ideal  of  love  and  service,  das  Ewig-  Weibliche, 
that  draws  us  on. 

But  this  assurance  cannot  be  reached  by  a 
mere  theory ;  and  Goethe  is  not  slow  to  declare 


46  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

how  he  views  attempts  to  reach  it  in  that  way. 
"Credo  Deum!  that,"  he  reminds  us  here,  uis 
a  fine,  a  worthy  thing  to  say ;  but  to  recognise 
God  when  and  where  he  reveals  himself,  is  the 
only  true  bliss  on  earth."  All  else  is  mystery. 
We  are  not  born,  as  he  said  to  Eckermann,  to 
solve  the  problems  of  the  world,  but  to  find  out 
where  the  problem  begins,  and  then  to  keep 
within  the  limits  of  what  we  can  grasp.  The 
problem,  he  urged,  is  transformed  into  a  postu- 
late :  if  we  cannot  get  a  solution  theoretically, 
we  can  get  it  in  the  experience  of  practical  life. 
We  reach  it  by  the  use  of  an  "active  scepti- 
cism," of  which  he  says  that  "it  continually 
aims  at  overcoming  itself  and  arriving  by  means 
of  regulated  experience  at  a  kind  of  conditioned 
certainty."  But  he  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  doctrinal  systems,  and,  like  Schiller,  pro- 
fessed none  of  the  forms  of  religion  from  a 
feeling  of  religion  itself.  To  see  how  he  views 
some  particular  questions  of  theology  the  reader 
may  turn  with  profit  to  his  maxims  on  the 
Reformation  and  early  Christianity,  and  to  his 
admirable  remarks  on  the  use  and  abuse  of  the 
Bible.  The  basis  of  religion  was  for  him  its 
own  earnestness ;  and  it  was  not  always  needful, 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  47 

he  held,  for  truth  to  take  a  definite  shape:  "it 
is  enough  if  it  hovers  about  us  like  a  spirit  and 
produces  harmony."  "I  believe,"  he  said  to 
Eckermann,  "  in  God  and  Nature  and  the  vic- 
tory of  good  over  evil ;  but  I  was  also  asked  to 
believe  that  three  was  one,  and  one  was  three. 
That  jarred  upon  my  feeling  for  truth ;  and  I 
did  not  see  how  it  could  have  helped  me  in  the 
least."  As  for  letting  our  minds  roam  beyond 
this  present  life,  he  thought  there  was  actual 
danger  in  it;  although  he  looked  for  a  future 
existence,  a  continuation  of  work  and  activity, 
in  which  what  is  here  incomplete  should  reach 
its  full  development.  And  whatever  be  the 
secrets  of  the  universe,  assuredly  the  best  we 
can  do  is  to  do  our  best  here ;  and  the  worst  of 
blasphemies  is  to  regard  this  life  as  altogether 
vanity;  for  as  these  pages  tell  us,  "it  would 
not  be  worth  while  to  see  seventy  years  if  all 
the  wisdom  of  this  world  were  foolishness  with 
God." 

In  Goethe  we  pass,  as  over  a  bridge,  from 
the  eighteenth  century  to  the  nineteenth ;  but 
though  he  lived  to  see  a  third  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  he  hardly  belongs  to  it.  Of  its  political 
characteristics  he  had  few  or  none.  He  was 


48  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

no  democrat.  As  the  prophet  of  inward  culture, 
he  took  the  French  Revolution  for  a  disturb- 
ance, an  interruption,  and  not  a  development 
in  the  progress  of  the  world's  history ;  and  for 
all  its  horrors  and  the  pernicious  demoralisation 
of  its  leaders,  he  had  the  profoundest  aversion. 
But  afterwards  he  came  to  see  that  it  had  bene- 
ficial results;  that  a  revolution  is  ultimately 
never  the  fault  of  the  people,  but  of  the  injustice 
and  incapacity  of  the  government;  and  that 
where  there  is  a  real  necessity  for  a  great 
reform,  the  old  leaven  must  be  rooted  out.1 
But  he  knew  the  danger  of  such  a  process,  and 
he  indicates  it  here  in  an  admirable  saying: 
"Before  the  French  Revolution  it  was  all  effort; 
afterwards  it  all  changed  to  demand " ;  and 
this  may  be  supplemented  by  his  opinion  on 
the  nature  of  revolutionary  sentiments:  "Men 
think  they  would  be  well-off  if  they  were  not 
ruled,  and  fail  to  perceive  that  they  can  rule 
neither  themselves  nor  others."  And  if  he 
had  thus  no  theoretical  sympathy  with  demo- 
cratic movements,  he  had  little  feeling  for  that 
other  great  political  tendency  of  our  time  — 
nationality;  convinced  as  he  was  that  interest 
1  Gesprdche  mit  Eckermann,  III.  4  January,  1824. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  49 

in  the  weal  and  woe  of  another  people  is  always 
a  mark  of  the  highest  culture.  But  apart  from 
politics  there  is  one  characteristic  of  our  own 
time  in  which  he  fully  and  especially  shares,  if 
only  for  the  reason  that  he  did  much  himself 
to  produce  it ;  and  herein  he  has  influenced  us 
profoundly  and  is  influencing  us  still.  The 
nineteenth  century  has  this  advantage  over 
every  preceding  age,  that  in  it  for  the  first  time 
honest  doubt,  instead  of  distinguishing  a  few, 
has  become  a  common  virtue.  Goethe  is  one 
of  the  surest  and  safest  of  those  who  have  led 
the  transition.  "  We  praise  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury," he  writes,  ufor  concerning  itself  chiefly 
with  analysis.  The  task  remaining  to  the  nine- 
teenth is  to  discover  the  false  syntheses  which 
prevail,  and  to  analyse  their  contents  anew." 
Of  the  aim  of  analysis  and  the  proper  course 
of  inquiry,  no  one  has  given  a  better  account 
than  Goethe  in  what  he  says,  in  the  words  I 
have  quoted,  about  active  scepticism ;  and  in 
the  sphere  of  morals  and  religion  it  will  perhaps 
be  found  hereafter  that  he  has  contributed,  in 
some  degree  at  least,  to  the  attainment  of  that 
"conditioned  certainty,"  for  which,  as  we  hope, 
all  our  efforts  are  made. 


50  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

In  the  maxims  on  Literature  there  is  some 
excellent  criticism  on  literary  methods,  and 
much  that  may  well  be  taken  to  heart  by  cer- 
tain writers  of  our  own  day.  Goethe  had  little 
but  rebuke  for  the  whole  of  the  romantic  move- 
ment, which  began  in  his  old  age.  The  German 
form  of  it  he  thought  unnatural,  and  at  best 
a  conventional  imitation  of  an  earlier  period; 
and  the  French  form,  of  which  Victor  Hugo 
was  then  the  rising  star,  he  thought  a  perver- 
sion of  naturalism,  an  exaggeration  of  it  until 
it  became  insipid  or  merely  revolting.  To 
Byron  alone  he  gave  the  tribute  of  the  most 
ungrudging  admiration:  in  the  opposition  be- 
tween classicism  and  romanticism,  he  declined 
to  take  him  for  a  follower  of  either,  but  as  the 
complete  representative  of  his  own  time.  The 
maxim  that  "the  classical  is  health,  and 
the  romantic,  disease,"  may  not  altogether  com- 
mend itself  to  us  now;  but  with  wonderful 
insight  Goethe  foresaw  the  direction  in  which 
the  romantic  movement  would  lead.  "The 
romantic,"  he  says  here,  "  is  already  fallen  into 
its  own  abysm.  It  is  hard  to  imagine  anything 
more  degraded  than  the  worst  of  the  new 
productions."  If  he  could  have  said  this  two 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  51 

generations  ago,  what  would  he  have  said  now? 
How  could  he  have  spoken  without  contempt 
of  those  who  make  all  that  is  common  and  un- 
clean in  itself  a  subject  with  which  literature 
may  properly  be  occupied?  These  are  the 
writers  who  profess  to  be  realists,  under  a 
completely  mistaken  notion  of  what  realism 
means,  as  applied  to  art;  and  to  them  the 
chief  realities  seem  to  be  just  the  very  things 
that  decent  people  keep  out  of  sight.  They 
forget  that  in  literature,  as  in  all  art,  the  domi- 
nating realities  are  the  highest  Ideals.  As 
an  antidote  to  this  poison  of  corruption  Goethe 
pointed  to  the  ancient  world,  and  bid  us  study 
there  the  types  of  the  loftiest  manhood. 
"Bodies  which  rot  while  they  are  still  alive 
and  are  edified  by  the  detailed  contemplation 
of  their  own  decay ;  dead  men  who  remain  in 
the  world  for  the  ruin  of  others,  and  feed  their 
death  on  the  living  —  to  this,"  he  exclaimed, 
"have  come  our  makers  of  literature.  When 
the  same  thing  happened  in  antiquity,  it  was 
only  as  a  strange  token  of  some  rare  disease ; 
but  with  the  moderns  the  disease  has  become 
endemic  and  epidemic."  Akin  to  these  pseudo- 
realists,  and  coming  under  the  same  ban,  are 


52  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

some  of  our  modern  novel-writers  who  do,  in- 
deed, avoid  the  depth  of  degradation,  but  try  to 
move  the  feelings  by  dwelling  in  a  similar  fash- 
ion on  matters  which  are  not,  and  never  can  be, 
fit  subjects  of  literary  treatment ;  such  as  painful 
deaths  by  horrible  distempers,  or  the  minute 
details  of  prolonged  operations.  It  is  poor  skill 
that  cannot  find  material  enough  in  the  moral 
sufferings  of  men  and  women,  and  is  driven  to 
seek  effect  in  descriptions  of  disease  and  sur- 
gery. Surely  in  any  literature  worthy  of  the 
name  these  are  topics  which  a  richer  imagina- 
tion and  a  more  prolific  art  would  have  found 
unnecessary,  and  better  taste  would  have  left 
undescribed. 

To  another  class  of  writers  —  those  who 
handle  a  pretty  pen  without  having  anything 
definite  to  present,  or  anything  important  to 
say,  Goethe  has  also  an  applicable  word.  It  is  a 
class  which  is  always  increasing  in  number,  and 
tends  to  increase  in  talent.  We  may  admit  that 
second-  or  third-rate  work,  especially  in  poetry, 
was  never  before  done  so  well  as  it  is  done  now; 
and  still  we  may  find  some  useful  truth  in  a 
distinction  which  Goethe  drew  for  the  benefit 
of  the  minor  poets  and  the  minor  prose-writers 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  53 

of  his  own  age.  "  Productions  are  now  possible," 
he  said,  "  which,  without  being  bad,  have  no 
value.  They  have  no  value,  because  they  con- 
tain nothing ;  and  they  are  not  bad,  because  a 
general  form  of  good  workmanship  is  present 
to  the  author's  mind."  In  one  of  the  many 
neglected  volumes  of  his  miscellaneous  writings 
Goethe  has  a  series  of  admirable  notes  for  a 
proposed  work  on  Dilettantism;  and  there  the 
reader,  if  he  is  interested  in  Goethe's  literary 
criticism,  will  find  some  instructive  remarks  in 
close  connection  with  this  aphorism,  and  also 
certain  rules  for  discriminating  between  good 
and  indifferent  work  which  ought  to  receive  the 
most  attentive  study.  And  the  stylists  who 
neglect  plain  language  for  a  mosaic  of  curious 
phrase  and  overstrained  epithet,  may  profitably 
remember  that,  as  Goethe  here  says,  "it  is  not 
language  in  itself  which  is  correct  or  forcible  or 
elegant,  but  the  mind  that  is  embodied  in  it." 

"  Translators,"  he  tells  us,  "  sing  the  praises 
of  some  half-veiled  beauty  and  rouse  an  irresist- 
ible longing  for  the  original."  To  them  also  he 
gives  a  piece  of  excellent  advice  :  "  The  transla- 
tor must  proceed  until  he  reaches  the  untrans- 
latable." This  is  a  counsel  of  exhortation  as 


54  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

well  as  of  warning.  It  bids  the  translator  spare 
no  effort,  but  tells  him  that  at  a  certain  point 
his  efforts  are  of  no  avail.  But  none  the  less, 
Goethe  might  have  added,  the  faithful  translator 
must  strive  as  if  this  hindrance  to  perfection 
did  not  exist ;  for  it  is  thus  only  that  he,  or  any 
one  else,  can  do  anything  worth  doing.  On 
methods  of  translation  much  may  be  said,  and  it 
is  sometimes  urged,  in  a  given  case,  that  it  is 
not  literal  or  that  it  is  too  free.  A  distinguished 
writer  has  recently  laid  down  that  a  translation 
should  reproduce  every  word  and  phrase  and 
sentence  of  the  original  as  accurately  as  a  deli- 
cate tracing  reproduces  the  lines  of  a  drawing. 
This  is  advice  which  may  hold  in  the  school- 
room, but,  I  venture  to  maintain,  nowhere  else. 
In  so  far  as  every  language  has  a  peculiar 
genius,  a  literal  translation  must  necessarily  be 
a  bad  one ;  and  any  faithful  translation  will  of 
its  nature  be  free.  In  other  words,  a  translator 
will  err  if  he  slavishly  adheres  to  mere  expres- 
sion ;  he  must  have  complete  liberty  to  give  his 
author's  meaning  and  style  in  the  manner  which 
he  holds  to  be  truest  to  the  original ;  and  so,  in 
translating  from  a  foreign  tongue,  it  will  be 
well  for  him  to  have  some  knowledge  of  his 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  55 

own.  But  he  must  guard  against  the  abuse  of 
his  position :  his  liberty  may  become  license,  and 
his  translation  instead  of  being  faithful  may 
be  phantastic.  The  translator's  first  and  last 
duty  is,  then,  to  efface  himself.  His  first  duty 
is  to  stand  entirely  at  the  point  of  view  of  his 
author's  thought;  his  last,  to  find  the  clearest 
and  nearest  expression  in  his  own  language  both 
for  that  thought  and  for  whatever  is  character- 
istic in  the  way  of  conveying  it ;  neither  adding 
anything  of  his  own  nor  taking  away  anything 
from  his  author.  The  best  translation  is  thus 
a  re-embodiment  of  the  author's  spirit,  a  real 
metempsychosis.  Nothing  can  be  done  without 
ideals,  and  this  is  the  ideal  at  which  the  present 
translation  aims.  That  it  fails  of  its  aim  and 
has  many  defects,  no  one  knows  better  than 
the  translator  himself ;  and  he  can  only  cherish 
the  hope  that  where  he  falls  short  he  is  some- 
times close  to  the  confines  of  what  cannot  be 
translated. 

December  2,  1892. 


LIFE  AND    CHARACTER 


GOETHE. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER 


THERE  is  nothing  worth  thinking  but  it  has 
been  thought  before ;  we  must  only  try  to  think 
it  again. 

2 

How  can  a  man  come  to  know  himself? 
Never  by  thinking,  but  by  doing.  Try  to  do 
your  duty,  and  you  will  know  at  once  what 
you  are  worth. 

3 

But  what  is  your  duty  ?  The  claims  of  the 
day. 

4 

The  world  of  reason  is  to  be  regarded  as  a 
great  and  immortal  being,  who  ceaselessly  works 
out  what  is  necessary,  and  so  makes  himself 
lord  also  over  what  is  accidental. 
59 


60     MAXIMS  AND   REFLECTIONS  OF   GOETHE 

5 

The  longer  I  live,  the  more  it  grieves  me  to 
see  man,  who  occupies  his  supreme  place  for 
the  very  purpose  of  imposing  his  will  upon 
nature,  and  freeing  himself  and  his  from  an 
outrageous  necessity,  —  to  see  him  taken  up 
with  some  false  notion,  and  doing  just  the 
opposite  of  what  he  wants  to  do ;  and  then, 
because  the  whole  bent  of  his  mind  is  spoilt, 
bungling  miserably  over  everything. 

6 

Be  genuine  and  strenuous ;  earn  for  yourself, 
and  look  for,  grace  from  those  in  high  places ; 
from  the  powerful,  favour;  from  the  active 
and  the  good,  advancement;  from  the  many, 
affection  ;  from  the  individual,  love. 

7 

Tell  me  with  whom  you  associate,  and  I  will 
tell  you  who  you  are.  If  I  know  what  your 
business  is,  I  know  what  can  be  made  of  you. 

8 

Every  man  must  think  after  his  own  fashion ; 
for  on  his  own  path  he  finds  a  truth,  or  a  kind 


LIEE  AND  CHARACTER  61 

of  truth,  which  helps  him  through  life.  But 
he  must  not  give  himself  the  rein ;  he  must 
control  himself;  mere  naked  instinct  does  not 
become  him. 


Unqualified  activity,  of  whatever  kind,  leads 
at  last  to  bankruptcy. 

10 

In  the  works  of  mankind,  as  in  those  of 
nature,  it  is  really  the  motive  which  is  chiefly 
worth  attention. 

ii 

Men  get  out  of  countenance  with  themselves 
and  others  because  they  treat  the  means  as  the 
end,  and  so,  from  sheer  doing,  do  nothing,  or, 
perhaps,  just  what  they  would  have  avoided. 

12 

Our  plans  and  designs  should  be  so  perfect 
in  truth  and  beauty,  that  in  touching  them  the 
world  could  only  mar.  We  should  thus  have 
the  advantage  of  setting  right  what  is  wrong, 
and  restoring  what  is  destroyed. 


62     MAXIMS  AND   REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

13 

It  is  a  very  hard  and  troublesome  thing  to 
dispose  of  whole,  half-,  and  quarter-mistakes; 
to  sift  them  and  assign  the  portion  of  truth  to 
its  proper  place. 

14 

It  is  not  always  needful  for  truth  to  take  a 
definite  shape  ;  it  is  enough  if  it  hovers  about 
us  like  a  spirit  and  produces  harmony;  if  it 
is  wafted  through  the  air  like  the  sound  of 
a  bell,  grave  and  kindly. 

15 

General  ideas  and  great  conceit  are  always 
in  a  fair  way  to  bring  about  terrible  misfortune. 

16 

You  cannot  play  the  flute  by  blowing  alone  : 
you  must  use  your  fingers. 


In  Botany  there  is  a  species  of  plants  called 
Incomplete;  and  just  in  the  same  way  it  can 
be  said  that  there  are  men  who  are  incomplete 
and  imperfect.  They  are  those  whose  desires 


LIEE  AND   CHARACTER  63 

and  struggles   are  out  of  proportion  to  their 
actions  and  achievements. 

18 

The  most  insignificant  man  can  be  complete 
if  he  works  within  the  limits  of  his  capacities, 
innate  or  acquired;  but  even  fine  talents  can 
be  obscured,  neutralised,  and  destroyed  by  lack 
of  this  indispensable  requirement  of  symmetry. 
This  is  a  mischief  which  will  often  occur  in 
modern  times;  for  who  will  be  able  to  come 
up  to  the  claims  of  an  age  so  full  and  intense 
as  this,  and  one  too  that  moves  so  rapidly  ? 

19 

It  is  only  men  of  practical  ability,  knowing 
their  powers  and  using  them  with  moderation 
and  prudence,  who  will  be  successful  in  worldly 
affairs. 

20 

It  is  a  great  error  to  take  oneself  for  more 
than  one  is,  or  for  less  than  one  is  worth. 

21 

From  time  to  time  I  meet  with  a  youth  in 
whom  I  can  wish  for  no  alteration  or  improve- 


64     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS   OF  GOETHE 

ment,  only  I  am  sorry  to  see  how  often  his 
nature  makes  him  quite  ready  to  swim  with 
the  stream  of  the  time ;  and  it  is  on  this  that 
I  would  always  insist,  that  man  in  his  fragile 
boat  has  the  rudder  placed  in  his  hand,  just  that 
he  may  not  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  waves,  but 
follow  the  direction  of  his  own  insight. 


But  how  is  a  young  man  to  come  of  himself 
to  see  blame  in  things  which  every  one  is  busy 
with,  which  every  one  approves  and  promotes  ? 
Why  should  he  not  follow  his  natural  bent  and 
go  in  the  same  direction  as  they  ? 

23 

I  must  hold  it  for  the  greatest  calamity  of 
our  time,  which  lets  nothing  come  to  maturity, 
that  one  moment  is  consumed  by  the  next,  and 
the  day  spent  in  the  day;  so  that  a  man  is 
always  living  from  hand  to  mouth,  without 
having  anything  to  show  for  it.  Have  we  not 
already  newspapers  for  every  hour  of  the  day ! 
A  good  head  could  assuredly  intercalate  one 
or  other  of  them.  They  publish  abroad  every- 
thing that  every  one  does,  or  is  busy  with  or 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  65 

meditating;  nay,  his  very  designs  are  thereby 
dragged  into  publicity.  No  one  can  rejoice  or 
be  sorry,  but  as  a  pastime  for  others;  and  so 
it  goes  on  from  house  to  house,  from  city 
to  city,  from  kingdom  to  kingdom,  and  at  last 
from  one  hemisphere  to  the  other,  —  all  in  post 
haste. 

24 

As  little  as  you  can  stifle  a  steam-engine, 
so  little  can  you  do  this  in  the  moral  sphere 
either.  The  activity  of  commerce,  the  rush 
and  rustle  of  paper-money,  the  swelling-up  of 
debts  to  pay  debts  —  all  these  are  the  monstrous 
elements  to  which  in  these  days  a  young  man 
is  exposed.  Well  is  it  for  him  if  he  is  gifted 
by  nature  with  a  sober,  quiet  temperament: 
neither  to  make  claims  on  the  world  out  of  all 
proportion  to  his  position,  nor  yet  let  the  world 
determine  it. 

25 

But  on  all  sides  he  is  threatened  by  the  spirit 
of  the  day,  and  nothing  is  more  needful  than 
to  make  him  see  early  enough  the  direction  in 
which  his  will  has  to  steer. 


66     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

26 

The  significance  of  the  most  harmless  words 
and  actions  grows  with  the  years,  and  if  I  see 
any  one  about  me  for  any  length  of  time,  I 
always  try  to  show  him  the  difference  there  is 
between  sincerity,  confidence,  and  indiscretion; 
nay,  that  in  truth  there  is  no  difference  at  all, 
but  a  gentle  transition  from  what  is  most 
innocent  to  what  is  most  hurtful;  a  transition 
which  must  be  perceived  or  rather  felt. 

27 

Herein  we  must  exercise  our  tact;  otherwise 
in  the  very  way  in  which  we  have  won  the 
favour  of  mankind,  we  run  the  risk  of  trifling 
it  away  again  unawares.  This  is  a  lesson  which 
a  man  learns  quite  well  for  himself  in  the 
course  of  life,  but  only  after  having  paid  a 
dear  price  for  it;  nor  can  he,  unhappily,  spare 
his  posterity  a  like  expenditure. 

28 

Love  of  truth  shows  itself  in  this,  that  a 
man  knows  how  to  find  and  value  the  good 
in  everything. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  67 

29 
Character  calls  forth  character. 


If  I  am  to  listen  to  another  man's  opinion, 
it  must  be  expressed  positively.  Of  things 
problematical  I  have  enough  in  myself. 


Superstition  is  a  part  of  the  very  being  of 
humanity;  and  when  we  fancy  that  we  are 
banishing  it  altogether,  it  takes  refuge  in  the 
strangest  nooks  and  corners,  and  then  suddenly 
comes  forth  again,  as  soon  as  it  believes  itself 
at  all  safe. 

32 

I  keep  silence  about  many  things,  for  I  do  not 
want  to  put  people  out  of  countenance  ;  and  I 
am  well  content  if  they  are  pleased  with  things 
that  annoy  me. 

33 

Everything  that  frees  our  spirit  without 
giving  us  control  of  ourselves  is  ruinous. 


68     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

34 

A  man  is  really  alive  only  when  he  delights 
in  the  goodwill  of  others. 

35 

Piety  is  not  an  end,  but  a  means:  a  means 
of  attaining  the  highest  culture  by  the  purest 
tranquillity  of  soul. 

36 

Hence  it  may  be  observed  that  those  who 
set  up  piety  as  an  end  and  object  are  mostly 
hypocrites. 

37 

When  a  man  is  old  he  must  do  more  than 
when  he  was  young. 

38 

To  fulfil  a  duty  is  still  always  to  feel  it  as  a 
debt,  for  it  is  never  quite  satisfying  to  oneself. 

39 

Defects  are  perceived  only  by  one  who  has 
no  love ;  therefore,  to  see  them,  a  man  must 
become  uncharitable,  but  not  more  so  than  is 
necessary  for  the  purpose. 


LIFE  AND  CHAKACTEE  69 

40 

The  greatest  piece  of  good  fortune  is  that 
which. corrects  our  deficiencies  and  redeems  our 
mistakes. 

4i 

Reading  ought  to  mean  understanding; 
writing  ought  to  mean  knowing  something; 
believing  ought  to  mean  comprehending ;  when 
you  desire  a  thing,  you  will  have  to  take  it; 
when  you  demand  it,  you  will  not  get  it ;  and 
when  you  are  experienced,  you  ought  to  be 
useful  to  others. 

42 

The  stream  is  friendly  to  the  miller  whom  it 
serves;  it  likes  to  pour  over  the  mill  wheels; 
what  is  the  good  of  it  stealing  through  the 
valley  in  apathy? 

43 

Whoso  is  content  with  pure  experience  and 
acts  upon  it  has  enough  of  truth.  The  growing 
child  is  wise  in  this  sense. 

44 

Theory  is  in  itself  of  no  use,  except  in  so  far 
as  it  makes  us  believe  in  the  connection  of 
phenomena. 


70     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

45 

When  a  man  asks  too  much  and  delights  in 
complication,  he  is  exposed  to  perplexity. 

46 

Thinking  by  means  of  analogies  is  not  to  be 
condemned.  Analogy  has  this  advantage,  that 
it  comes  to  no  conclusion,  and  does  not,  in 
truth,  aim  at  finality  at  all.  Induction,  on  the 
contrary,  is  fatal,  for  it  sets  up  an  object  and 
keeps  it  in  view,  and,  working  on  towards  it, 
drags  false  and  true  with  it  in  its  train. 

47 

The  absent  works  upon  us  by  tradition.  The 
usual  form  of  it  may  be  called  historical;  a 
higher  form,  akin  to  the  imaginative  faculty,  is 
the  mythical.  If  some  third  form  of  it  is  to 
be  sought  behind  this  last,  and  it  has  any 
meaning,  it  is  transformed  into  the  mystical. 
It  also  easily  becomes  sentimental,  so  that  we 
appropriate  to  our  use  only  what  suits  us. 

48 

In  contemplation  as  in  action,  we  must 
distinguish  between  what  may  be  attained 
and  what  is  unattainable.  Without  this,  little 
can  be  achieved,  either  in  life  or  in  knowledge. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  71 

49 

^Le  sense  commun  est  le  genie  de  VhumanitS? 

Common-sense,  which  is  here  put  forward  as 
the  genius  of  humanity,  must  be  examined  first 
of  all  in  the  way  it  shows  itself.  If  we  inquire 
the  purpose  to  which  humanity  puts  it,  we  find 
as  follows :  Humanity  is  conditioned  by  needs. 
If  they  are  not  satisfied,  men  become  impatient ; 
and  if  they  are,  it  seems  not  to  affect  them. 
The  normal  man  moves  between  these  two 
states,  and  he  applies  his  understanding  —  his 
so-called  common-sense  —  to  the  satisfaction  of 
his  needs.  When  his  needs  are  satisfied,  his 
task  is  to  fill  up  the  waste  spaces  of  indifference. 
Here,  too,  he  is  successful,  if  his  needs  are  con- 
fined to  what  is  nearest  and  most  necessary. 
But  if  they  rise  and  pass  beyond  the  sphere 
of  ordinary  wants,  common-sense  is  no  longer 
sufficient ;  it  is  a  genius  no  more,  and  humanity 
enters  on  the  region  of  error. 

50 

There  is  no  piece  of  foolishness  but  it  can  be 
corrected  by  intelligence  or  accident ;  no  piece 
of  wisdom  but  it  can  miscarry  by  lack  of  intelli- 
gence or  by  accident. 


72      MAXIMS  AND  [REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

51 

Every  great  idea  is  a  tyrant  when  it  first 
appears  ;  hence  the  advantages  which  it  pro- 
duces change  all  too  quickly  into  disadvantages. 
It  is  possible,  then,  to  defend  and  praise  any 
institution  that  exists,  if  its  beginnings  are 
brought  to  remembrance,  and  it  is  shown  that 
everything  which  was  true  of  it  at  the  begin- 
ning is  true  of  it  still. 


Lessing,  who  chafed  under  the  sense  of 
various  limitations,  makes  one  of  his  characters 
say  :  No  one  must  do  anything.  A  clever 
pious  man  said:  If  a  man  wills  something,  he 
must  do  it.  A  third,  who  was,  it  is  true,  an 
educated  man,  added  :  Will  follows  upon  insight. 
The  whole  circle  of  knowledge,  will,  and  neces- 
sity was  thus  believed  to  have  been  completed. 
But,  as  a  rule,  a  man's  knowledge,  of  whatever 
kind  it  may  be,  determines  what  he  shall  do 
and  what  he  shall  leave  undone,  and  so  it 
is  that  there  is  no  more  terrible  sight  than 
ignorance  in  action. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  73 

53 

There  are  two  powers  that  make  for  peace : 
what  is  right,  and  what  is  fitting. 

54 

Justice  insists  on  obligation,  law  on  decorum. 
Justice  weighs  and  decides,  law  superintends 
and  orders.  Justice  refers  to  the  individual, 
law  to  society. 

55 

The  history  of  knowledge  is  a  great  fugue  in 
which  the  voices  of  the  nations  one  after  the 
other  emerge. 


74     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 


II 


56 

If  a  man  is  to  achieve  all  that  is  asked  of  him, 
he  must  take  himself  for  more  than  he  is,  and  as 
long  as  he  does  not  carry  it  to  an  absurd  length, 
we  willingly  put  up  with  it. 

57 
Work  makes  companionship. 

58 

People  whip  curds  to  see  if  they  cannot  make 
cream  of  them. 

59 

It  is  much  easier  to  put  yourself  in  the 
position  of  a  mind  taken  up  with  the  most 
absolute  error,  than  of  one  which  mirrors  to 
itself  half-truths. 

60 
Wisdom  lies  only  in  truth. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  75 

61 

When  I  err,  every  one  can  see  it;  but  not 
when  I  lie. 

62 

Is  not  the  world  full  enough  of  riddles 
already,  without  our  making  riddles  too  out 
of  the  simplest  phenomena? 

63 
4  The  finest  hair  throws  a  shadow.'     Erasmus. 

64 

What  I  have  tried  to  do  in  my  life  through 
false  tendencies,  I  have  at  last  learned  to 
understand. 

65 

Generosity  wins  favour  for  every  one,  espe- 
cially when  it  is  accompanied  by  modesty. 

66 

Before  the  storm  breaks,  the  dust  rises 
violently  for  the  last  time  —  the  dust  that  is 
soon  to  be  laid  forever. 


76     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

67 

Men  do  not  come  to  know  one  another  easily, 
even  with  the  best  will  and  the  best  purpose. 
And  then  ill-will  comes  in  and  distorts 
everything. 

68 

We  should  know  one  another  better  if  one 
man  were  not  so  anxious  to  put  himself  on  an 
equality  with  another. 

69 

Eminent  men  are  therefore  in  a  worse  plight 
than  others  ;  for,  as  we  cannot  compare  ourselves 
with  them,  we  are  on  the  watch  for  them. 

• 
70 

In  the  world  the  point  is,  not  to  know  men, 
but  at  any  given  moment  to  be  cleverer  than  the 
man  who  stands  before  you.  You  can  prove  this 
at  every  fair  and  from  every  charlatan. 


Not  everywhere  where  there  is  water,  are 
there  frogs;  but  where  you  have  frogs,  there 
you  will  find  water. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  77 

72 

Error  is  quite  right  as  long  as  we  are  young, 
but  we  must  not  carry  it  on  with  us  into  our 
old  age. 

Whims  and  eccentricities  that  grow  stale  are 
all  useless,  rank  nonsense. 

73 

In  the  formation  of  species  Nature  gets,  as  it 
were,  into  a  cul-de-sac;  she  cannot  make  her 
way  through,  and  is  disinclined  to  turn  back. 
Hence  the  stubbornness  of  national  character. 

74 

Every  one  has  something  in  his  nature  which, 
if  he  were  to  express  it  openly,  would  of  neces- 
sity give  offence. 

75 

If  a  man  thinks  about  his  physical  or  moral 
condition,  he  generally  finds  that  he  is  ill. 

76 

Nature  asks  that  a  man  should  sometimes  be 
stupefied  without  going  to  sleep;  hence  the 
pleasure  in  the  smoking  of  tobacco,  the  drinking 
of  brandy,  the  use  of  opiates. 


78     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

77 

The  man  who  is  up  and  doing  should  see  to  it 
that  what  he  does  is  right.  Whether  or  not 
right  is  done,  is  a  matter  which  should  not 
trouble  him. 

78 

Many  a  man  knocks  about  on  the  wall  with 
his  hammer,  and  believes  that  he  hits  the  right 
nail  on  the  head  every  time. 

79 

Painting  and  tattooing  of  the  body  is  a  return 
to  animalism. 

80 

History-writing  is  a  way  of  getting  rid  of 
the  past. 

81 

What  a  man  does  not  understand,  he  does  not 
possess. 

82 

Not  every  one  who  has  a  pregnant  thought 
delivered  to  him  becomes  productive ;  it 
probably  makes  him  think  of  something  with 
which  he  is  quite  familiar. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  79 

83 

Favour,  as  a  symbol  of  sovereignty,  is  exer- 
cised by  weak  men. 

84 

Every  man  has  enough  power  left  to  carry 
out  that  of  which  he  is  convinced. 

8s 

Memory  may  vanish  so  long  as  at  the 
moment  judgment  does  not  fail  you. 

86 

No  nation  gains  the  power  of  judgment  except 
it  can  pass  judgment  on  itself.  But  to  attain 
this  great  privilege  takes  a  very  long  time. 

87 

Instead  of  contradicting  my  words  people 
ought  to  act  in  my  spirit. 

88 

Those  who  oppose  intellectual  truths  do  but 
stir  up  the  fire,  and  the  cinders  fly  about  and 
burn  what  they  had  else  not  touched. 


80      MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

89 

Man  would  not  be  the  finest  creature  in  the 
world  if  he  were  not  too  fine  for  it. 

90 

What  a  long  time  people  were  vainly  disput- 
ing about  the  Antipodes  ! 


Certain  minds  must  be  allowed  their  peculi- 
arities. 

92 

Snow  is  false  purity. 

93 

Whoso  shrinks  from  ideas  ends  by  having 
nothing  but  sensations. 

94 

Those  from  whom  we  are  always  learning 
are  rightly  called  our  masters  ;  but  not  every 
one  who  teaches  us  deserves  this  title. 

95 

It  is  with  you  as  with  the  sea:  the  most 
varied  names  are  given  to  what  is  in  the  end 
only  salt  water. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  81 

96 

It  is  said  that  vain  self-praise  stinks  in  the 
nostrils.  That  may  be  so ;  but  for  the  kind  of 
smell  which  comes  from  unjust  blame  by  others 
the  public  has  no  nose  at  all. 

97 

There  are  problematical  natures  which  are 
equal  to  no  position  in  which  they  find  them- 
selves, and  which  no  position  satisfies.  This  it 
is  that  causes  that  hideous  conflict  which  wastes 
life  and  deprives  it  of  all  pleasure. 

98 
t 

If  we  do  any  real  good,  it  is  mostly  dam,  vi, 
et  precario. 

99 
Dirt  glitters  as  long  as  the  sun  shines. 

100 

It  is  difficult  to  be  just  to  the  passing 
moment.  We  are  bored  by  it  if  it  is  neither 
good  nor  bad;  but  the  good  moment  lays  a 
task  upon  us,  and  the  bad  moment  a  burden. 


82     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OP  GOETHE 

101 

He  is  the  happiest  man  who  can  set  the  end 
of  his  life  in  connection  with  the  beginning. 

102 

So  obstinately  contradictory  is  man  that  you 
cannot  compel  him  to  his  advantage,  yet  he 
yields  before  everything  that  forces  him  to  his 
hurt. 

103 

Forethought  is  simple,  afterthought  manifold. 

104 

A  state  of  things  in  which  every  day  brings 
some  new  trouble  is  not  the  right  one. 

'05 

When  people  suffer  by  failing  to  look  before 
them,  nothing  is  commoner  than  trying  to  look 
out  for  some  possible  remedy. 

106 

The  Hindoos  of  the  Desert  make  a  solemn 
vow  to  eat  no  fish. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  83 

107 

To  venture  an  opinion  is  like  moving  a  piece 
at  chess:  it  may  be  taken,  but  it  forms  the 
beginning  of  a  game  that  is  won. 

108 

It  is  as  certain  as  it  is  strange  that  truth  and 
error  come  from  one  and  the  same  source.  Thus 
it  is  that  we  are  often  not  at  liberty  to  do 
violence  to  error,  because  at  the  same  time  we 
do  violence  to  truth. 

109 

Truth  belongs  to  the  man,  error  to  his  age. 
This  is  why  it  has  been  said  that,  while  the 
misfortune  of  the  age  caused  his  error,  the  force 
of  his  soul  made  him  emerge  from  the  error 
with  glory. 

no 

Every  one  has  his  peculiarities  and  cannot  get 
rid  of  them ;  and  yet  many  a  one  is  destroyed 
by  his  peculiarities,  and  those  too  of  the  most 
innocent  kind. 

in 

If  a  man  does  think  too  much  of  himself,  he 
is  more  than  he  believes  himself  to  be. 


84     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

112 

In  art  and  knowledge,  as  also  in  deed  and 
action,  everything  depends  on  a  pure  apprehen- 
sion of  the  object  and  a  treatment  of  it  accord- 
ing to  its  nature. 

"3 

When  intelligent  and  sensible  people  despise 
knowledge  in  their  old  age,  it  is  only  because 
they  have  asked  too  much  of  it  and  of  them- 
selves. 

114 

I  pity  those  who  make  much  ado  about  the 
transitory  nature  of  all  things  and  are  lost  in 
the  contemplation  of  earthly  vanity :  are  we  not* 
here  to  make  the  transitory  permanent  ?     This 
we  can  do  only  if  we  know  how  to  value  both. 

"5 

A  rainbow  which  lasts  a  quarter  of  an  hour  is 
looked  at  no  more. 

116 

It  used  to  happen,  and  still  happens,  to  me  to 
take  no  pleasure  in  a  work  of  art  at  the  first 
sight  of  it,  because  it  is  too  much  for  me ;  but 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  85 

if  I  suspect  any  merit  in  it,  I  try  to  get  at  it ; 
and  then  I  never  fail  to  make  the  most  gratify- 
ing discoveries,  —  to  find  new  qualities  in  the 
work  itself  and  new  faculties  in  myself. 

117 

Faith  is  private  capital,  kept  in  one's  own 
house.  There  are  public  savings-banks  and 
loan-offices,  which  supply  individuals  in  their 
day  of  need ;  but  here  the  creditor  quietty  takes 
his  interest  for  himself. 

118 

Real  obscurantism  is  not  to  hinder  the  spread 
of  what  is  true,  clear,  and  useful,  but  to  bring 
into  vogue  what  is  false. 

119 

During  a  prolonged  study  of  the  lives  of  vari- 
ous men  both  great  and  small,  I  came  upon  this 
thought :  In  the  web  of  the  world  the  one  may 
well  be  regarded  as  the  warp,  the  other  as  the 
woof.  It  is  the  little  men,  after  all,  who  give 
breadth  to  the  web,  and  the  great  men  firmness 
and  solidity ;  perhaps,  also,  the  addition  of  some 


86     MAXIMS  AND  EEFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

sort  of  pattern.  But  the  scissors  of  the  Fates 
determine  its  length,  and  to  that  all  the  rest 
must  join  in  submitting  itself. 

I2O 

Truth  is  a  torch,  but  a  huge  one,  and  so  it  is 
only  with  blinking  eyes  that  we  all  of  us  try  to 
get  past  it,  in  actual  terror  of  being  burnt. 

121 

'The  wise  have  much  in  common  with  one 
another.'  JEschylus. 

122 

The  really  foolish  thing  in  men  who  are 
otherwise  intelligent  is  that  they  fail  to  under- 
stand what  another  person  says,  when  he  does 
not  exactly  hit  upon  the  right  way  of  saying  it. 

123 

Because  a  man  speaks,  he  thinks  he  is  able  to 
speak  about  language. 

124 

One  need  only  grow  old  to  become  gentler  in 
one's  judgments.  I  see  no  fault  committed 
which  I  could  not  have  committed  myself. 


LIFE  AND   CHAEACTER  87 

125 

The  man  who  acts  never  has  any  conscience ; 
no  one  has  any  conscience  but  the  man  who 

thinks. 

126 

Why  should  those  who  are  happy  expect  one 
who  is  miserable  to  die  before  them  in  a  grace- 
ful attitude,  like  the  gladiator  before  the  Roman 
mob? 

127 

Some  one  asked  Timon  about  the  education 
of  his  children.  4  Let  them,'  he  said,  '  be 
instructed  in  that  which  they  will  never 

understand.' 

128 

There  are  people  whom  I  wish  well,  and 
would  that  I  could  wish  better. 

129 

By  force  of  habit  we  look  at  a  clock  that 
has  run  down  as  if  it  were  still  going,  and  we 
gaze  at  the  face  of  a  beauty  as  though  she  still 

loved. 

130 

Hatred  is  active  displeasure,  envy  passive. 
We  need  not  wonder  that  envy  turns  so  soon 
to  hatred. 


88     MAXIMS  AND   REFLECTIONS   OF  GOETHE 

I3i 

There  is  something  magical  in  rhythm;  it 
even  makes  us  believe  that  we  possess  the 

sublime. 

132 

Dilettantism  treated  seriously,  and  know- 
ledge pursued  mechanically,  end  by  becoming 
pedantry. 

133 

No  one  but  the  master  can  promote  the  cause 
of  Art.  Patrons  help  the  master,  —  that  is  right 
and  proper;  but  that  does  not  always  mean 
that  Art  is  helped. 

!34 

The  most  foolish  of  all  errors  is  for  clever 
young  men  to  believe  that  they  forfeit  their 
originality  in  recognising  a  truth  which  has 
already  been  recognised  by  others. 

i35 

Scholars  are  generally  malignant  when  they 
are  refuting  others ;  and  if  they  think  a  man  is 
making  a  mistake,  they  straightway  look  upon 
him  as  their  mortal  enemy. 

136 

Beauty  can  never  really  understand  itself. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  89 


III 


137 

It  is  much  easier  to  recognise  error  than  to 
find  truth ;  for  error  lies  on  the  surface  and  may 
be  overcome ;  but  truth  lies  in  the  depths,  and 
to  search  for  it  is  not  given  to  every  one. 

138 

We  all  live  on  the  past,  and  through  the  past 
are  destroyed. 

T39 

We  are  no  sooner  about  to  learn  some  great 
lesson  than  we  take  refuge  in  our  own  innate 
poverty  of  soul,  and  yet  for  all  that  the  lesson 
has  not  been  quite  in  vain. 

140 

The  world  of  empirical  morality  consists  for 
the  most  part  of  nothing  but  ill-will  and  envy. 

141 

Life  seems  so  vulgar,  so  easily  content  with 
the  commonplace  things  of  every  day,  and  yet 


90     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

it  always  nurses  and  cherishes  certain  higher 
claims  in  secret,  and  looks  about  for  the  means 
of  satisfying  them. 

142 

Confidences  are  strange  things.  If  you  listen 
only  to  one  man,  it  is  possible  that  he  is 
deceived  or  mistaken  ;  if  you  listen  to  many, 
they  are  in  a  like  case;  and,  generally,  you 
cannot  get  at  the  truth  at  all. 


No  one  should  desire  to  live  in  irregular  cir- 
cumstances; but  if  by  chance  a  man  falls  into 
them,  they  test  his  character  and  show  of  how 
much  determination  he  is  capable. 

144 

An  honourable  man  with  limited  ideas  often 
sees  through  the  rascality  of  the  most  cunning 
jobber. 

M5 

If  a  man  feels  no  love,  he  must  learn  how  to 
flatter  ;  otherwise  he  will  not  succeed. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  91 

146 

Against  criticism  a  man  can  neither  protest 
nor  defend  himself  ;  he  must  act  in  spite  of  it, 
and  then  criticism  will  gradually  yield  to  him. 

M7 

The  masses  cannot  dispense  with  men  of 
ability,  and  such  men  are  always  a  burden 
to  them. 

148 

If  a  man  spreads  my  failings  abroad,  he  is 

my  master,  even  though  he  were  my  servant. 

i 

149 

Whether  memoirs  are  written  by  masters  of 
servants,  or  by  servants  of  masters,  the  processes 
always  meet. 

150 

If  you  lay  duties  upon  people  and  give  them 
no  rights,  you  must  pay  them  well. 


I  can  promise  to  be  sincere,  but  not  to  be 
impartial. 


92      MAXIMS  AND   KEFLECTIONS  OF   GOETHE 


Ingratitude  is  always  a  kind  of  weakness.  I 
have  never  known  men  of  ability  to  be  un- 
grateful. 

i53 

We  are  all  so  limited  that  we  always  think 
we  are  right;  and  so  we  may  conceive  of  an 
extraordinary  mind  which  not  only  errs  but  has 
a  positive  delight  in  error. 


It  is  very  rare  to  find  pure  and  steady  activity 
in  the  accomplishment  of  what  is  good  and 
right.  We  usually  see  pedantry  trying  to  keep 
back,  and  audacity  trying  to  go  on  too  fast. 


Word  and  picture  are  correlatives  which  are 
continually  in  quest  of  each  other,  as  is  suf- 
ficiently evident  in  the  case  of  metaphors  and 
similes.  So  from  all  time  what  was  said  or 
sung  inwardly  to  the  ear  had  to  be  presented 
equally  to  the  eye.  And  so  in  childish  days  we 
see  word  and  picture  in  continual  balance;  in 
the  book  of  the  law  and  in  the  way  of  salva- 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER  93 

tion,  in  the  Bible  and  in  the  spelling-book. 
When  something  was  spoken  which  could  not 
be  pictured,  and  something  pictured  which 
could  not  be  spoken,  all  went  well  ;  but 
mistakes  were  often  made,  and  a  word  was 
used  instead  of  a  picture;  and  thence  arose 
those  monsters  of  symbolical  mysticism,  which 
are  doubly  an  evil. 

156 

For  the  man  of  the  world  a  collection  of 
anecdotes  and  maxims  is  of  the  greatest  value, 
if  he  knows  how  to  intersperse  the  one  in  his 
conversation  at  fitting  moments,  and  remember 
the  other  when  a  case  arises  for  their  appli- 
cation. 

i57 

When  you  lose  interest  in  anything,  you  also 
lose  the  memory  for  it. 

158 

The  world  is  a  bell  with  a  crack  in  it;  it 
rattles,  but  does  not  ring. 


The  importunity  of  young  dilettanti  must 


94      MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS   OF  GOETHE 

be  borne  with  good-will;  for  as  they  grow  old 
they  become  the  truest  worshippers  of  Art  and 
the  Master. 

160 

People  have  to  become  really  bad  before  they 
care  for  nothing  but  mischief,  and  delight  in  it. 

161 
Clever  people  are  the  best  encyclopaedia. 

162 

There  are  people  who  make  no  mistakes 
because  they  never  wish  to  do  anything  worth 
doing. 

163 

If  I  know  my  relation  to  myself  and  the 
outer  world,  I  call  it  truth.  Every  man  can 
have  his  own  peculiar  truth;  and  yet  it  is 
always  the  same. 

164 

No  one  is  the  master  of  any  truly  productive 
energy;  and  all  men  must  let  it  work  on  by 
itself. 

165 

A  man  never  understands  how  anthropomor- 
phic he  is. 


LITE  AND  CHAKACTER  95 

166 

A  difference  which  offers  nothing  to  the 
understanding  is  no  difference  at  all. 

167 

A  man  cannot  live  for  every  one;  least  of 
all  for  those  with  whom  he  would  not  care  to 

live. 

168 

If  a  man  sets  out  to  study  all  the  laws,  he 
will  have  no  time  left  to  transgress  them. 

169 

Things    that    are    mysterious    are    not    yet 

miracles. 

170 

'  Converts  are  not  in  my  good  books.' 

171 

A  frivolous  impulsive  encouragement  of 
problematical  talents  was  a  mistake  of  my 
early  years;  and  I  have  never  been  able  to 
abandon  it  altogether. 

172 

I  should  like  to  be  honest  with  you,  without 
our  falling  out;  but  it  will  not  do.  You  act 


96      MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF   GOETHE 

wrongly,  and  fall  between  two  stools  ;  you  win 
no  adherents  and  lose  your  friends.  What  is 
to  be  the  end  of  it  ? 

i73 

It  is  all  one  whether  you  are  of  high  or  of 
humble  origin.  You  will  always  have  to  pay 
for  your  humanity. 

i74 

When  I  hear  people  speak  of  liberal  ideas, 
it  is  always  a  wonder  to  me  that  men  are  so 
readily  put  off  with  empty  verbiage.  An  idea 
cannot  be  liberal  ;  but  it  may  be  potent,  vigor- 
ous, exclusive,  in  order  to  fulfil  its  mission  of 
being  productive.  Still  less  can  a  concept  be 
liberal  ;  for  a  concept  has  quite  another  mission. 
Where,  however,  we  must  look  for  liberality, 
is  in  the  sentiments  ;  and  the  sentiments  are 
the  inner  man  as  he  lives  and  moves.  A  man's 
sentiments,  however,  are  rarely  liberal,  because 
they  proceed  directly  from  him  personally,  and 
from  his  immediate  relations  and  requirements. 
Further  we  will  not  write,  and  let  us  apply  this 
test  to  what  we  hear  every  day. 


If  a  clever  man  commits  a  folly,  it  is  not  a 
small  one. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  97 

176 

There  is  a  poetry  without  figures  of  speech, 
which  is  a  single  figure  of  speech. 

177 

I  went  on  troubling  myself  about  general 
ideas  until  I  learnt  to  understand  the  particular 
achievements  of  the  best  men. 

178 

It  is  only  when  a  man  knows  little,  that  he 
knows  anything  at  all.  With  knowledge  grows 
doubt. 

179 

The  errors  of  a  man  are  what  make  him 
really  lovable. 

1 80 

There  are  men  who  love  their  like  and 
seek  it ;  others  love  their  opposite  and  follow 
after  it. 

181 

If  a  man  has  always  let  himself  think  the 
world  as  bad  as  the  adversary  represents  it  to 
be,  he  must  have  become  a  miserable  person. 


98     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

182 

Ill-favour  and  hatred  limit  the  spectator  to 
the  surface,  even  when  keen  perception  is  added 
unto  them;  but  when  keen  perception  unites 
with  good-will  and  love,  it  gets  at  the  heart  of 
man  and  the  world;  nay,  it  may  hope  to  reach 
the  highest  goal  of  all. 

183 

Raw  matter  is  seen  by  every  one ;  the  con- 
tents are  found  only  by  him  who  has  his  eyes 
about  him;  and  the  form  is  a  secret  to  the 

majority. 

184 

We  may  learn  to  know  the  world  as  we 
please:  it  will  always  retain  a  bright  and  a 
dark  side. 

185 

Error  is  continually  repeating  itself  in  action, 
and  we  must  unweariedly  repeat  the  truth  in 

word. 

186 

As  in  Rome  there  is,  apart  from  the  Romans, 
a  population  of  statues,  so  apart  from  this  real 
world  there  is  a  world  of  illusion,  almost  more 
potent,  in  which  most  men  live. 


LIFE  AND  CHAKACTEK  99 

187 

Mankind  is  like  the  Red  Sea:  the  staff  has 
scarcely  parted  the  waves  asunder,  before  they 
flow  together  again. 

188 

Thoughts  come  back;  beliefs  persist;  facts 
pass  by  never  to  return. 

189 

Of  all  peoples,  the  Greeks  have  dreamt  the 
dream  of  life  the  best. 

190 

We  readily  bow  to  antiquity,  but  not  to 
posterity.  It  is  only  a  father  that  does  not 
grudge  talent  to  his  son. 

191 

There  is  no  virtue  in  subordinating  oneself ; 
but  there  is  virtue  in  descending,  and  in 
recognising  anything  as  above  us,  which  is 
beneath  us. 

192 

The  whole  art  of  living  consists  in  giving 
up  existence  in  order  to  exist. 


100     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

193 

All  our  pursuits  and  actions  are  a  wearying 
process.     Well  is  it  for  him  who  wearies  not. 

194 
Hope  is  the  second  soul  of  the  unhappy. 


Love  is  a  true  renovator. 

• 

196 

Mankind  is  not  without  a  wish  to  serve; 
hence  the  chivalry  of  the  French  is  a  servitude. 

197 

In  the  theatre  the  pleasure  of  what  we  see 
and  hear  restrains  our  reflections. 

198 

There  is  no  limit  to  the  increase  of  experi- 
ence, but  theories  cannot  become  clearer  and 
more  complete  in  just  the  same  sense.  The 
field  of  experience  is  the  whole  universe  in  all 
directions.  Theory  remains  shut  up  within  the 
limits  of  the  human  faculties.  Hence  there 


LIFE  AND 

is  no  way  of  looking  at  the  world,  but  it  recurs, 
and  the  curious  thing  happens,  that  with  in- 
creased experience  a  limited  theory  may  again 
come  into  favour. 

It  is  always  the  same  world  which  stands 
open  to  observation,  which  is  continually  being 
contemplated  or  guessed  at;  and  it  is  always 
the  same  men  who  live  in  the  true  or  in  the 
false ;  more  at  their  ease  in  the  latter  than  in 

the  former. 

199 

Truth  is  at  variance  with  our  natures,  but 
not  so  error;  and  for  a  very  simple  reason. 
Truth  requires  us  to  recognise  ourselves  as 
limited,  but  error  flatters  us  with  the  belief  that 
in  one  way  or  another  we  are  subject  to  no 

bounds  at  all. 

200 

That  some  men  think  they  can  still  do  what 
they  have  been  able  to  do,  is  natural  enough ; 
that  others  think  they  can  do  what  they  have 
never  been  able  to  do,  is  singular,  but  not  rare. 

201 

At  all  times  it  has  not  been  the  age,  but 
individuals  alone,  who  have  worked  for  know* 


,  102     MAXIMS  AMU'  REFLECTIONS   OF   GOETHE 

ledge.  It  was  the  age  which  put  Socrates  to 
death  by  poison,  the  age  which  burnt  Huss. 
The  ages  have  always  remained  alike. 

202 

That  is  true  Symbolism,  where  the  more 
particular  represents  the  more  general,  not  as 
a  dream  or  shade,  but  as  a  vivid,  instantaneous 
revelation  of  the  Inscrutable. 

203 

Everything  of  an  abstract  or  symbolic  nature, 
as  soon  as  it  is  challenged  by  realities,  ends  by 
consuming  them  and  itself.  So  credit  consumes 
both  money  and  itself. 

204 
Mastery  often  passes  for  egoism. 

205 

With  Protestants,  as  soon  as  good  works 
cease  and  their  merit  is  denied,  sentimentality 
takes  their  place. 

206 

If  a  man  knows  where  to  get  good  advice,  it 
is  as  though  he  could  supply  it  himself. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  103 

207 

The  use  of  mottoes  is  to  indicate  something 
we  have  not  attained,  but  strive  to  attain.  It 
is  right  to  keep  them  always  before  our  eyes. 

208 

*  If  a  man  cannot  lift  a  stone  himself,  let  him 
leave  it,  even  though  he  has  some  one  to  help 
him.' 

209 

Despotism  promotes  general  self-government, 
because  from  top  to  bottom  it  makes  the  indi- 
vidual responsible,  and  so  produces  the  highest 
degree  of  activity. 

210 

A  man  must  pay  dear  for  his  errors  if  he 
wishes  to  get  rid  of  them,  and  even  then  he  is 
lucky. 

211 

Enthusiasm  is  of  the  greatest  value,  so  long 
as  we  are  not  carried  away  by  it. 

212 

School  itself  is  the  only  true  preparation 
for  it. 


104     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

213 

Error  is  related  to  truth  as  sleep  to  waking. 
I  have  observed  that  on  awakening  from  error 
a  man  turns  again  to  truth  as  with  new  vigour. 

214 

Every  one  suffers  who  does  not  work  for 
himself.  A  man  works  for  others  to  have 
them  share  in  his  joy. 

215 

Men's  prejudices  rest  upon  their  character 
for  the  time  being  and  cannot  be  overcome,  as 
being  part  and  parcel  of  themselves.  Neither 
evidence  nor  common-sense  nor  reason  has  the 
slightest  influence  upon  them. 

216 

Characters  often  make  a  law  of  their  failings. 
Men  who  know  the  world  have  said  that  when 
prudence  is  only  fear  in  disguise,  its  scruples 
cannot  be  conquered.  The  weak  often  have 
revolutionary  sentiments ;  they  think  they 
would  be  well  off  if  they  were  not  ruled,  and 
fail  to  perceive  that  they  can  rule  neither 
themselves  nor  others. 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER  105 

217 

Common-sense  is  born  pure  in  the  healthy 
man,  is  self-developed,  and  is  revealed  by  a 
resolute  perception  and  recognition  of  what 
is  necessary  and  useful.  Practical  men  and 
women  avail  themselves  of  it  with  confidence. 
Where  it  is  absent,  both  sexes  find  anything 
necessary  when  they  desire  it,  and  useful  when 
it  gives  them  pleasure. 

218 

All  men,  as  they  attain  freedom,  give  play  to 
their  errors.  The  strong  do  too  much,  and  the 

weak  too  little. 

219 

The  conflict  of  the  old,  the  existing,  the 
continuing,  with  development,  improvement, 
and  reform,  is  always  the  same.  Order  of  every 
kind  turns  at  last  to  pedantry,  and  to  get  rid 
of  the  one,  people  destroy  the  other;  and  so 
it  goes  on  for  a  while,  until  people  perceive 
that  order  must  be  established  anew.  Classicism 
and  Romanticism;  close  corporations  and  free- 
dom of  trade  ;  the  maintenance  of  large  estates 
and  the  division  of  the  land,  —  it  is  always  the 
same  conflict  which  ends  by  producing  a  new 


106     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS   OF  GOETHE 

one.  The  best  policy  of  those  in  power  would 
be  so  to  moderate  this  conflict  as  to  let  it  right 
itself  without  the  destruction  of  either  element. 
But  this  has  not  been  granted  to  men,  and  it 
seems  not  to  be  the  will  of  God. 

220 

A  great  work  limits  us  for  the  moment, 
because  we  feel  it  above  our  powers ;  and  only 
in  so  far  as  we  afterwards  incorporate  it  with 
our  culture,  and  make  it  part  of  our  mind  and 
heart,  does  it  become  a  dear  and  worthy  object. 

221 

It  is  no  wonder  that  we  all  more  or  less 
delight  in  the  mediocre,  because  it  leaves  us 
in  peace:  it  gives  us  the  comfortable  feeling 
of  intercourse  with  what  is  like  ourselves. 

222 

There  is  no  use  in  reproving  vulgarity,  for 

it  never  changes. 

223 

We  cannot  escape  a  contradiction  in  our- 
selves; we  must  try  to  resolve  it.  If  the 
contradiction  comes  from  others,  it  does  not 
affect  us:  it  is  their  affair. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  107 

224 

There  are  many  things  in  the  world  that  are 
at  once  good  and  excellent,  but  they  do  not 
come  into  contact. 

225 

Which  is  the  best  government  ?  That  which 
teaches  us  to  govern  ourselves. 

226 

When  men  have  to  do  with  women,  they 
get  spun  off  like  a  distaff. 

227 

It  may  well  be  that  a  man  is  at  times  horribly 
threshed  by  misfortunes,  public  and  private: 
but  the  reckless  flail  of  Fate,  when  it  beats  the 
rich  sheaves,  crushes  only  the  straw;  and  the 
corn  feels  nothing  of  it  and  dances  merrily  on 
the  floor,  careless  whether  its  way  is  to  the  mill 
or  the  furrow. 

228 

However  probable  it  is  that  a  desire  may  be 
fulfilled,  there  is  alwaj^s  a  doubt ;  and  so  when 
the  desire  is  realised,  it  is  always  surprising. 


108     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

229 

Absurdities  presented  with  good  taste  rouse 
disgust  and  admiration. 

230 

Of  the  best  society  it  used  to  be  said :  their 
speech  instructs  the  mind,  and  their  silence  the 
feelings. 

231 

Nothing  is  more  terrible  than  ignorance  in 
action. 

232 

Beauty  and  Genius  must  be  kept  afar  if  one 
would  avoid  becoming  their  slave. 

233 

We  treat  the  aged  with  consideration,  as  we 
treat  children. 

234 

An  old  man  loses  one  of  the  greatest  of  human 
privileges :  he  is  no  more  judged  by  his  peers. 

235 

In  the  matter  of  knowledge,  it  has  happened 
to  me  as  to  one  who  rises  early,  and  in  the  dark 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  109 

impatiently  awaits  the  dawn,  and  then  the  sun ; 
but  is  blinded  when  it  appears. 

236 

Great  primeval  powers,  evolved  in  time  or  in 
eternity,  work  on  unceasingly :  whether  to  weal 
or  to  woe,  is  a  matter  of  chance. 


110     MAXIMS  AND  EEFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 


IV 

237 

People  often  say  to  themselves  in  life  that 
they  should  avoid  a  variety  of  occupation,  and, 
more  particularly,  be  the  less  willing  to  enter 
upon  new  work  the  older  they  grow.  But  it 
is  easy  to  talk,  easy  to  give  advice  to  oneself 
and  others.  To  grow  old  is  itself  to  enter  upon 
a  new  business  ;  all  the  circumstances  change, 
and  a  man  must  either  cease  acting  altogether, 
or  willingly  and  consciously  take  over  the 
new  r81e. 

238 

Of  the  Absolute  in  the  theoretical  sense,  I 
do  not  venture  to  speak ;  but  this  I  maintain : 
that  if  a  man  recognises  it  in  its  manifestation, 
and  always  keeps  his  gaze  fixed  upon  it,  he  will 
experience  very  great  reward. 

239 

To  live  in  a  great  idea  means  to  treat  the 
impossible  as  though  it  were  possible.  It  is 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  111 

just  the  same  with  a  strong  character;  and 
when  an  idea  and  a  character  meet,  things  arise 
which  fill  the  world  with  wonder  for  thousands 
of  years. 

240 

Napoleon  lived  wholly  in  a  great  idea,  but  he 
was  unable  to  take  conscious  hold  of  it.  After 
utterly  disavowing  all  ideals  and  denying  them 
any  reality,  he  zealously  strove  to  realise  them. 
His  clear,  incorruptible  intellect  could  not, 
however,  tolerate  such  a  perpetual  conflict 
within ;  and  there  is  much  value  in  the  thoughts 
which  he  was  compelled,  as  it  were,  to  utter, 
and  which  are  expressed  very  peculiarly  and 
with  much  charm. 

241 

He  considered  the  idea  as  a  thing  of  the 
mind,  that  had,  it  is  true,  no  reality,  but 
still,  on  passing  away,  left  a  residuum  —  a 
caput  mortuum  —  to  which  some  reality  could 
not  be  altogether  refused.  We  may  think  this 
a  very  perverse  and  material  notion ;  but  when 
he  entertained  his  friends  with  the  never- 
ending  consequences  of  his  life  and  actions, 
in  full  belief  and  confidence  in  them,  he 


112      MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

expressed  himself  quite  differently.  Then, 
indeed,  he  was  ready  to  admit  that  life 
produces  life ;  that  a  fruitful  act  has  effects 
to  all  time.  He  took  pleasure  in  confessing 
that  he  had  given  a  great  impulse,  a  new 
direction,  to  the  course  of  the  world's  affairs. 


242 

It  always  remains  a  very  remarkable  fact  that 
men  whose  whole  personality  is  almost  all  idea, 
are  so  extremely  shy  of  all  phantasy.  In  this 
case  was  Hamann,  who  could  not  bear  the 
mention  of  "things  of  another  world."  He 
took  occasion  to  express  himself  on  this  point 
in  a  certain  paragraph,  which  he  wrote  in  four- 
teen different  ways;  and  still,  apparently,  he 
was  never  quite  satisfied  with  it. 

Two  of  these  attempts  have  been  preserved 
to  us;  a  third  we  have  ourselves  attempted, 
which  we  are  induced  to  print  here  by  the  pre- 
ceding observations. 

243 

Man  is  placed  as  a  real  being  in  the  midst 
of  a  real  world,  and  endowed  with  such  organs 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  113 

that  he  can  perceive  and  produce  the  real  and 
also  the  possible. 

All  healthy  men  have  the  conviction  of  their 
own  existence  and  of  an  existence  around  them. 
However,  even  the  brain  contains  a  hollow  spot, 
that  is  to  say,  a  place  in  which  no  object  is 
mirrored;  just  as  in  the  eye  itself  there  is  a 
little  spot  that  does  not  see.  If  a  man  pays 
particular  attention  to  this  spot  and  is  absorbed 
in  it,  he  falls  into  a  state  of  mental  sickness, 
has  presentiments  of  "  things  of  another  world," 
which  are,  in  reality,  no  things  at  all ;  possess- 
ing neither  form  nor  limit,  but  alarming  him 
like  dark,  empty  tracts  of  night,  and  pursuing 
him  as  something  more  than  phantoms,  if  he 
does  not  tear  himself  free  from  them. 

244 

To  the  several  perversities  of  the  day  a  man 
should  always  oppose  only  the  great  masses 
of  universal  history. 

245 

No  one  can  live  much  with  children  without 
finding  that  they  always  react  to  any  outward 
influence  upon  them. 


114     MAXIMS  AND  KEFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

246 

With  any  specially  childish,  nature  the 
reaction  is  even  passionate,  while  its  action  is 
energetic. 

247 

That  is  why  children's  lives  are  a  series  of 
refined  judgments,  not  to  say  prejudices;  and 
to  efface  a  rapid  but  partial  perception  in  order 
to  make  way  for  a  more  general  one,  time  is 
necessary.  To  bear  this  in  mind  is  one  of  the 
teacher's  greatest  duties. 

248 

Friendship  can  only  be  bred  in  practice  and 
be  maintained  by  practice.  Affection,  nay,  love 
itself,  is  no  help  at  all  to  friendship.  True, 
active,  productive  friendship  consists  in  keep- 
ing equal  pace  in  life :  in  my  friend  approving 
my  aims,  while  I  approve  his,  and  in  thus 
moving  forwards  together  steadfastly,  however 
much  our  way  of  thought  and  life  may  vary. 


LITE  AND  CHARACTER  115 


249 

In  the  world  people  take  a  man  at  his  own 
estimate;  but  he  must  estimate  himself  at 
something.  Disagreeableness  is  more  easily 
tolerated  than  insignificance. 

250 

You  can  force  anything  on  society  so  long  as 
it  has  no  sequel. 

251 

We  do  not  learn  to  know  men  if  they  come 
to  us;  we  must  go  to  them  to  find  out  what 

they  are. 

252 

That  we  have  many  criticisms  to  make  on 
those  who  visit  us,  and  that,  as  soon  as  they 
depart,  we  pass  no  very  amiable  judgment  upon 
them,  seems  to  me  almost  natural;  for  we  have, 
so  to  speak,  a  right  to  measure  them  by  our 
own  standard.  Even  intelligent  and  fair-minded 
men  hardly  refrain  from  sharp  censure  on  such 
occasions. 


116      MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

253 

But  if,  on  the  contrary,  we  have  been  in  their 
homes,  and  have  seen  them  in  their  surround- 
ings and  habits  and  the  circumstances  which 
are  necessary  and  inevitable  for  them;  if  we 
have  seen  the  kind  of  influence  they  exert  on 
those  around  them,  or  how  they  behave,  it  is 
only  ignorance  and  ill-will  that  can  find  food 
for  ridicule  in  what  must  appear  to  us  in  more 
than  one  sense  worthy  of  respect. 

254 

What  we  call  conduct  and  good  manners 
obtains  for  us  that  which  otherwise  is  to  be 
obtained  only  by  force,  or  not  even  by  force. 

255 
Women's    society   is    the   element   of   good 

manners. 

256 

How  can  the  character,  the  peculiar  nature  of 
a  man,  be  compatible  with  good  manners  ? 

257 

It  is  through  his  good  manners  that  a  man's 
peculiar  nature  should  be  made  all  the  more 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  117 

conspicuous.     Every  one  likes  distinction,  but  it 
should  not  be  disagreeable. 

258 

The  most  privileged  position,  in  life  as  in 
society,  is  that  of  an  educated  soldier.  Rough 
warriors,  at  any  rate,  remain  true  to  their 
character,  and  as  great  strength  is  usually  the 
cover  for  good  nature,  we  get  on  with  them 
at  need. 

259 

No  one  is  more  troublesome  than  an  awkward 
civilian.  As  his  business  is  not  with  anything 
brutal  or  coarse,  he  might  be  expected  to  show 
delicacy  of  feeling. 

260 

When  we  live  with  people  who  have  a 
delicate  sense  of  what  is  fitting,  we  get 
quite  anxious  about  them  if  anything  happens 
to  disturb  this  sense. 

261 

No  one  would  come  into  a  room  with 
spectacles  on  his  nose,  if  he  knew  that  women 
at  once  lose  any  inclination  to  look  at  or  talk 
to  him. 


118     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

262 

A  familiar  in  the  place  of  a  respectful 
demeanour  is  always  ridiculous. 

263 

There  is  no  outward  sign  of  politeness  that 
will  be  found  to  lack  some  deep  moral  founda- 
tion. The  right  kind  of  education  would  be  that 
which  conveyed  the  sign  and  the  foundation  at 
the  same  time. 

264 

A  man's  manners  are  the  mirror  in  which  he 
shows  his  portrait. 

265 

There  is  a  politeness  of  the  heart,  and  it  is 
allied  to  love.  It  produces  the  most  agreeable 
politeness  of  outward  demeanour. 

266 

Voluntary  dependence  is-  the  best  state,  and 
how  should  that  be  possible  without  love  ? 

267 

We  are  never  further  from  our  wishes  than 
when  we  fancy  we  possess  the  object  of  them. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  119 

268 

No  one  is  more  of  a  slave  than  he  who  thinks 
himself  free  without  being  so. 

269 

A  man  has  only  to  declare  himself  free  to  feel 
at  the  same  moment  that  he  is  limited.  Should 
he  venture  to  declare  himself  limited,  he  feels 
himself  free. 

270 

Against  the  great  superiority  of  another  there 
is  no  remedy  but  love. 

271 

It  is  a  terrible  thing  for  an  eminent  man  to 
be  gloried  in  by  fools. 

272 

It  is  said  that  no  man  is  a  hero  to  his  valet. 
That  is  only  because  a  hero  can  be  recognised 
only  by  a  hero.  The  valet  will  probably  know 
how  to  appreciate  his  like,  —  his  fellow-valet. 

273 

There  is  no  greater  consolation  for  mediocrity 
than  that  the  genius  is  not  immortal. 


120     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETJiE 

274 

The  greatest  men  are  linked  to  their  age 
by  some  weak  point. 

275. 

We  generally  take  men  to  be  more  dangerous 
than  they  are. 

276 

Fools  and  wise  folk  are  alike  harmless.  It 
is  the  half-wise,  and  the  half-foolish,  who  are 
the  most  dangerous. 

277 

To  see  a  difficult  thing  lightly  handled  gives 
us  the  impression  of  the  impossible. 

278 

Difficulties  increase  the  nearer  we  come  to 

our  aim. 

279 

Sowing  is  not  so  painful  as  reaping. 

280 

We  are  fond  of  looking  to  the  future,  because 
our  secret  wishes  make  us  apt  to  turn  in  our 
favour  the  uncertainties  which  move  about  in 
it  hither  and  thither. 


,LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  121 

281 

It  is  not  easy  to  be  in  any  great  assembly 
without  thinking  that  the  chance  which  brings 
so  many  people  together  will  also  make  us 

meet  our  friends. 

282 

A  man  may  live  never  so  retired  a  life  but 
he  becomes  a  debtor  or  a  creditor  before  he  is 

aware  of  it. 

283 

If  anyone  meets  us  who  owes  us  a  debt 
of  gratitude,  it  immediately  crosses  our  mind. 
How  often  can  we  meet  some  one  to  whom  we 
owe  gratitude,  without  thinking  of  it ! 

284 

To  communicate  oneself  is  Nature ;  to  receive 
a  communication  as  it  is  given  is  Culture. 

285 

No  one  would  speak  much  in  society  if  he 
were  aware  how  often  we  misunderstand  others. 

286 

It  is  only  because  we  have  not  understood  a 
thing  that  we  cannot  repeat  it  without  alteration. 


122      MAXIMS  AND  KEFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

287 

To  make  a  long  speech  in  the  presence  of 
others  without  flattering  your  audience,  is  to 
rouse  dislike. 

288 

Every  word  that  we  utter  rouses  its  contrary. 

289 

Contradiction  and  flattery  make,  both  of 
them,  bad  conversation. 

290 

The  pleasantest  society  is  that  in  which  there 
exists  a  genial  deference  amongst  the  members 
one  towards  another. 

291 

By  nothing  do  men  show  their  character 
more  than  by  the  things  they  laugh  at. 

292 

The  ridiculous  springs  from  a  moral  contrast 
innocently  presented  to  the  senses. 

293 
The  sensual  man  often  laughs  when  there  is 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER  123 

nothing  to  laugh  at.    Whatever  it  is  that  moves 
him,  he  shows  that  he  is  pleased  with  himself. 

294 

An  intelligent  man  finds  almost  everything 
ridiculous,  a  wise  man  hardly  anything. 

295 

A  man  well  on  in  years  was  reproved  for  still 
troubling  himself  about  young  women.  'It  is 
the  only  means,'  he  replied,'  '  of  regaining  one's 
youth ;  and  that  is  something  every  one  wishes 

to  do.' 

296 

A  man  does  not  mind  being  blamed  for  his 
faults,  and  being  punished  for  them,  and  he 
patiently  suffers  much  for  the  sake  of  them; 
but  he  becomes  impatient  if  he  is  required  to 

give  them  up. 

297 

Certain  faults  are  necessary  to  the  individual 
if  he  is  to  exist.  We  should  not  like  old  friends 
to  give  up  certain  peculiarities. 

298 

It  is  said  of  a  man  that  he  will  soon  die,  when 
he  acts  in  any  way  unlike  himself. 


124     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

299 

What  kind  of  faults  in  ourselves  should  we 
retain,  nay,  even  cultivate  ?  Those  which 
rather  flatter  other  people  than  offend  them. 

300 
The  passions  are  good  or  bad  qualities,  only 

intensified. 

301 

Our  passions  are,  in  truth,  like  the  phoenix. 
When  the  old  one  burns  away,  the  new  one 
rises  out  of  its  ashes  at  once. 

302 

Great  passions  are  hopeless  diseases.  That 
which  could  cure  them  is  the  first  thing  to  make 
them  really  dangerous. 

303 

Passion  is  enhanced  and  tempered  by  avowal. 
In  nothing,  perhaps,  is  the  middle  course  more 
desirable  than  in  confidence  and  reticence 
towards  those  we  love. 

3°4 

To  sit  in  judgment  on  the  departed  is  never 
likely  to  be  equitable.  We  all  suffer  from  life; 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  125 

who  except  God  can  call  us  to  account  ?  Let 
not  their  faults  and  sufferings,  but  what 
they  have  accomplished  and  done,  occupy  the 
survivors. 

305 

It  is  failings  that  show  human  nature,  and 
merits  that  distinguish  the  individual;  faults 
and  misfortunes  we  all  have  in  common ;  virtues 
belong  to  each  one  separately. 


126     MAXIMS  AND  KEFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 


VI 

306 

The  secret  places  in  the  way  of  life  may  not 
and  cannot  be  revealed:  there  are  rocks  of 
offence  on  which  every  traveller  must  stumble. 
But  the  poet  points  to  where  they  are. 

307 

It  would  not  be  worth  while  to  see  seventy 
years  if  all  the  wisdom  of  this  world  were 
foolishness  with  God. 

308 

The  true  is  Godlike :  we  do  not  see  it  itself ; 
we  must  guess  at  it  through  its  manifestations. 

309 

The  real  scholar  learns  how  to  evolve  the 
unknown  from  the  known,  and  draws  near  the 
master. 

310 

In  the  smithy  the  iron  is  softened  by  blowing 
up  the  fire,  and  taking  the  dross  from  the  bar. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  127 

As  soon  as  it  is  purified,  it  is  beaten  and  pressed, 
and  becomes  firm  again  by  the  addition  of  fresh 
water.  The  same  thing  happens  to  a  man  at 
the  hands  of  his  teacher. 

3" 

What  belongs  to  a  man,  he  cannot  get  rid  of, 
even  though  he  throws  it  away. 

312 

Of  true  religions  there  are  only  two  :  one  of 
them  recognises  and  worships  the  Holy  that 
without  form  or  shape  dwells  in  and  around 
us;  and  the  other  recognises  and  worships  it 
in  its  fairest  form.  Everything  that  lies 
between  these  two  is  idolatry. 


It  is  undeniable  that  in  the  Reformation 
the  human  mind  tried  to  free  itself;  and  the 
renaissance  of  Greek  and  Roman  antiquity 
brought  about  the  wish  and  longing  for  a  freer, 
more  seemly,  and  elegant  life.  The  movement 
was  favoured  in  no  small  degree  by  the  fact  that 
men's  hearts  aimed  at  returning  to  a  certain 


128      MAXIMS  AND   REFLECTIONS   OF   GOETHE 

simple  state  of  nature,  while  the  imagination 
sought  to  concentrate  itself. 


The  Saints  were  all  at  once  driven  from 
heaven;  and  senses,  thought,  and  heart  were 
turned  from  a  divine  mother  with  a  tender 
child,  to  the  grown  man  doing  good  and  suffer- 
ing evil,  who  was  later  transfigured  into  a  being 
half-divine  in  its  nature,  and  then  recognised 
and  honoured  as  God  himself.  He  stood 
against  a  background  where  the  Creator  had 
opened  out  the  universe  ;  a  spiritual  influence 
went  out  from  him  ;  his  sufferings  were  adopted 
as  an  example,  and  his  transfiguration  was  the 
pledge  of  everlastingness. 


As  a  coal  is  revived  by  incense,  so  prayer 
revives  the  hopes  of  the  heart. 

316 

From  a  strict  point  of  view  we  must  have  a 
reformation  of  ourselves  every  day,  and  protest 
against  others,  even  though  it  be  in  no  religious 
sense. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  129 

31? 

It  should  be  our  earnest  endeavour  to  use 
words  coinciding  as  closely  as  possible  with 
what  we  feel,  see,  think,  experience,  imagine, 
and  reason.  It  is  an  endeavour  which  we 
cannot  evade,  and  which  is  daily  to  be  renewed. 

Let  every  man  examine  himself,  and  he  will 
find  this  a  much  harder  task  than  he  might 
suppose;  for,  unhappily,  a  man  usually  takes 
words  as  mere  make-shifts ;  his  knowledge  and 
his  thought  are  in  most  cases  better  than  his 
method  of  expression. 

False,  irrelevant,  and  futile  ideas  may  arise 
in  ourselves  and  others,  or  find  their  way  into 
us  from  without.  Let  us  persist  in  the  effort 
to  remove  them  as  far  as  we  can,  by  plain  and 
honest  purpose. 

318 

As  we  grow  older,  the  ordeals  grow  greater. 

3*9 
Where  I  cannot  be  moral,  my  power  is  gone. 

320 

A  man  is  not  deceived  by  others,  he  deceives 
himself. 


130     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

321 

Laws  are  all  made  by  old  people  and  by  men. 
Youths  and  women  want  the  exceptions,  old 
people  the  rules. 

322 

It  is  not  the  intelligent  man  who  rules,  but 
intelligence ;  not  the  wise  man,  but  wisdom. 

323 
To  praise  a  man  is  to  put  oneself  on  his  level. 

324 

It  is  not  enough  to  know,  we  must  also  apply; 
it  is  not  enough  to  will,  we  must  also  do. 

325 

Chinese,  Indian,  and  Egyptian  antiquities 
are  never  more  than  curiosities;  it  is  well  to 
make  acquaintance  with  them ;  but  in  point 
of  moral  and  aesthetic  culture  they  can  help  us 
little. 

326 

The  German  runs  no  greater  danger  than 
to  advance  with  and  by  the  example  of  his 
neighbours.  There  is  perhaps  no  nation  that 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  131 

Is  fitter  for  the  process  of  self-development ;  so 
that  it  has  proved  of  the  greatest  advantage 
to  Germany  to  have  obtained  the  notice  of  the 
world  so  late. 

327 

Even  men  of  insight  do  not  see  that  they  try- 
to  explain  things  which  lie  at  the  foundation 
of  our  experience,  and  in  which  we  must  simply 
acquiesce. 

Yet  still  the  attempt  may  have  its  advantage, 
as  otherwise  we  should  break  off  our  researches 
too  soon. 

328 

From  this  time  forward,  if  a  man  does  not 
apply  himself  to  some  art  or  handiwork,  he  will 
be  in  a  bad  way.  In  the  rapid  changes  of  the 
world,  knowledge  is  no  longer  a  furtherance ; 
by  the  time  a  man  has  taken  note  of  everything, 
he  has  lost  himself. 

329 

Besides,  in  these  days  the  world  forces 
universal  culture  upon  us,  and  so  we  need 
not  trouble  ourselves  further  about  it ;  we  must 
appropriate  some  particular  culture. 


132      MAXIMS  AND   REFLECTIONS   OF   GOETHE 
330 

The  greatest  difficulties  lie  where  we  do  not 
look  for  them. 

33i 

Our  interest  in  public  events  is  mostly  the 
merest  philistinism. 

332 

Nothing  is  more  highly  to  be  prized  than  the 
value  of  each  day. 

333 

Pereant  qui  ante  nos  nostra  dixerunt!  This 
is  so  strange  an  utterance,  that  it  could  only 
have  come  from  one  who  fancied  himself  autoch- 
thonous. The  man  who  looks  upon  it  as  an 
honour  to  be  descended  from  wise  ancestors, 
will  allow  them  at  least  as  much  common-sense 
as  he  allows  himself. 

334 

Strictly  speaking,  everything  depends  upon  a 
man's  intentions ;  where  these  exist,  thoughts 
appear;  and  as  the  intentions  are,  so  are  the 
thoughts. 

335 

If  a  man  lives  long  in  a  high  position,  he 
does  not,  it  is  true,  experience  all  that  a  man 
can  experience;  but  he  experiences  things  like 
them,  and  perhaps  some  tilings  that  have -no 
parallel  elsewhere. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  133 


VII 

336 

The  first  and  last  thing  that  is  required  of 
genius  is  love  of  truth. 

337 

To  be  and  remain  true  to  oneself  and  others, 
is  to  possess  the  noblest  attribute  of  the  greatest 
talents. 

333 
Great  talents  are  the  best  means  of  conciliation. 

339 

The  action  of  genius  is  in  a  way  ubiquitous  : 
towards  general  truths  before  experience,  and 
towards  particular  truths  after  it. 

340 

An  active  scepticism  is  one  which  constantly 
aims  at  overcoming  itself,  and  arriving  by  means 
of  regulated  experience  at  a  kind  of  conditioned 
certainty. 


134     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS   OE  GOETHE 

341 

The  general  nature  of  the  sceptical  mind  is 
its  tendency  to  inquire  whether  any  particular 
predicate  really  attaches  to  any  particular 
object ;  and  the  purpose  of  the  inquiry  is  safely 
to  apply  in  practice  what  has  thus  been  discovered 
and  proved. 

342 

The  mind  endowed  with  active  powers  and 
keeping  with  a  practical  object  to  the  task  that 
lies  nearest,  is  the  worthiest  there  is  on  earth. 

343 

Perfection  is  the  measure  of  heaven,  and  the 
wish  to  be  perfect  the  measure  of  man. 

344 

Not  only  what  is  born  with  him,  but  also 
what  he  acquires,  makes  the  man. 

345 

A  man  is  well  equipped  for  all  the  real  neces- 
sities of  life  if  he  trusts  his  senses,  and  so 
cultivates  them  that  they  remain  worthy  of 
being  trusted. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  135 

346 

The  senses  do  not  deceive ;  it  is  the  judgment 
that  deceives. 

347 

The  lower  animal  is  taught  by  its  organs ; 
man  teaches  his  organs,  and  dominates  them. 

348 

All  direct  invitation  to  live  up  to  ideals  is 
of  doubtful  value,  particularly  if  addressed  to 
women.  Whatever  the  reason  of  it  may  be, 
a  man  of  any  importance  collects  round  him 
a  seraglio  of  a  more  or  less  religious,  moral,  and 
aesthetic  character. 

349 

When  a  great  idea  enters  the  world  as  a 
Gospel,  it  becomes  an  offence  to  the  multitude, 
which  stagnates  in  pedantry;  and  to  those  who 
have  much  learning  but  little  depth,  it  is  folly. 

35° 

Every  idea  appears  at  first  as  a  strange 
visitor,  and  when  it  begins  to  be  realised,  it 
is  hardly  distinguishable  from  phantasy  and 
phantastery. 


136     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

351 

This  it  is  that  has  been  called,  in  a  good  and 
in  a  bad  sense,  ideology ;  and  this  is  why  the 
ideologist  is  so  repugnant  to  the  hard-working, 
practical  man  of  every  day. 

352 

You  may  recognise  the  utility  of  an  idea, 
and  yet  not  quite  understand  how  to  make 
a  perfect  use  of  it. 

353 

Credo  Deum  !  That  is  a  fine,  a  worthy  thing 
to  say;  but  to  recognise  God  where  and  as 
he  reveals  himself,  is  the  only  true  bliss  on 
earth. 

354 

Kepler  said:  4My  wish  is  that  I  may  per- 
ceive the  God  whom  I  find  everywhere  in  the 
external  world,  in  like  manner  also  within  and 
inside  me.'  The  good  man  was  not  aware  that 
in  that  very  moment  the  divine  in  him  stood 
in  the  closest  connection  with  the  divine  in  the 
Universe. 

355 

What  is  predestination?  It  is  this:  God 
is  mightier  and  wiser  than  we  are,  and  so  he 
does  with  us  as  he  pleases. 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER  137 

356 

Toleration  should,  strictly  speaking,  be  only 
a  passing  mood ;  it  ought  to  lead  to  acknowledg- 
ment and  appreciation.  To  tolerate  a  person 
is  to  affront  him. 

357 

Faith,  Love,  and  Hope  once  felt,  in  a  quiet 
sociable  hour,  a  plastic  impulse  in  their  nature  ; 
they  worked  together  and  created  a  lovely 
image,  a  Pandora  in  the  higher  sense,  Patience. 

358 

4 1  stumbled  over  the  roots  of  the  tree  which 
I  planted.'  It  must  have  been  an  old  forester 
who  said  that. 

359 

A  leaf  blown  by  the  wind  often  looks  like 
a  bird. 

360 

Does  the  sparrow  know  how  the  stork  feels  ? 

361 

Lamps  make  oil-spots,  and  candles  want 
snuffing;  it  is  only  the  light  of  heaven  that 
shines  pure  and  leaves  no  stain. 


138     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF   GOETHE 

362 

If  you  miss  the  first  button-hole,  you  will 
not  succeed  in  buttoning  up  your  coat. 

363 

A  burnt  child  dreads  the  fire ;  an  old  man 
who  has  often  been  singed  is  afraid  of  warming 

himself. 

364 

It  is  not  worth  while  to  do  anything  for  the 
world  that  we  have  with  us,  as  the  existing  order 
may  in  a  moment  pass  away.  It  is  for  the  past 
and  the  future  that  we  must  work  :  for  the  past, 
to  acknowledge  its  merits ;  for  the  future,  to 
try  to  increase  its  value. 

365 

Let  every  man  ask  himself  with  which  of  his 
faculties  he  can  and  will  somehow  influence 

his  age. 

366 

Let  no  one  think  that  people  have  waited  for 
him  as  for  the  Saviour. 

367 

Character  in  matters  great  and  small  consists 
in  a  man  steadily  pursuing  the  things  of  which 
he  feels  himself  capable. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  139 

368 

The  man  who  wants  to  be  active  and  has  to 
be  so,  need  only  think  of  what  is  fitting  at  the 
moment,  and  he  will  make  his  way  without 
difficulty.  This  is  where  women  have  the 
advantage,  if  they  understand  it. 

369 

The  moment  is  a  kind  of  public  ;  a  man 
must  deceive  it  into  believing  that  he  is  doing 
something;  then  it  leaves  us  alone  to  go  our 
way  in  secret  ;  whereat  its  grandchildren  cannot 
fail  to  be  astonished. 


There  are  men  who  put  their  knowledge  in 
the  place  of  insight. 

37i 

In  some  states,  as  a  consequence  of  the  violent 
movements  experienced  in  almost  all  directions, 
there  has  come  about  a  certain  overpressure 
in  the  system  of  education,  the  harm  of  which 
will  be  more  generally  felt  hereafter  ;  though 
even  now  it  is  perfectly  well  recognised  by 
capable  and  honest  authorities.  Capable  men 
live  in  a  sort  of  despair  over  the  fact  that 


140     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

they  are  bound  by  the  rules  of  their  office  to 
teach  and  communicate  things  which  they  look 
upon  as  useless  and  hurtful. 

372 

There  is  no  sadder  sight  than  the  direct  striv- 
ing after  the  unconditioned  in  this  thoroughly 
conditioned  world. 

373 

Before  the  Revolution  it  was  all  effort ;  after- 
wards it  all  changed  to  demand. 

374 

Can  a  nation  become  ripe  ?  That  is  a  strange 
question.  I  would  answer,  Yes !  if  all  the  men 
could  be  born  thirty  years  of  age.  But  as  youth 
will  always  be  too  forward  and  old  age  too 
backward,  the  really  mature  man  is  always 
hemmed  in  between  them,  and  has  to  resort  to 
strange  devices  to  make  his  way  through. 

375 

It  does  not  look  well  for  monarchs  to  speak 
through  the  press,  for  power  should  act  and  not 
talk.  The  projects  of  the  liberal  party  always 
bear  being  read :  the  man  who  is  overpowered 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER  141 

may  at  least  express  his  views  in  speech,  because 
he  cannot  act.  When  Mazarin  was  shown  some 
satirical  songs  on  a  new  tax,  *  Let  them  sing,' 
said  he,  '  as  long  as  they  pay.' 

376 

Vanity  is  a  desire  of  personal  glory,  the  wish 
to  be  appreciated,  honoured,  and  run  after,  not 
because  of  one's  personal  qualities,  merits,  and 
achievements,  but  because  of  one's  individual 
existence.  At  best,  therefore,  it  is  a  frivolous 
beauty  whom  it  befits. 

377 

The  most  important  matters  of  feeling  as  of 
reason,  of  experience  as  of  reflection,  should  be 
treated  of  only  by  word  of  mouth.  The  spoken 
word  at  once  dies  if  it  is  not  kept  alive  by  some 
other  word  following  on  it  and  suited  to  the 
hearer.  Observe  what  happens  in  social  con- 
verse. If  the  word  is  not  dead  when  it  reaches 
the  hearer,  he  murders  it  at  once  by  a  contra- 
diction, a  stipulation,  a  condition,  a  digression, 
an  interruption,  and  all  the  thousand  tricks  of 
conversation.  With  the  written  word  the  case 
is  still  worse.  No  one  cares  to  read  anything 


142     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF   GOETHE 

to  which  he  is  not  already  to  some  extent 
accustomed :  he  demands  the  known  and  the 
familiar  under  an  altered  form.  Still  the 
written  word  has  this  advantage,  that  it  lasts 
and  can  await  the  time  when  it  is  allowed  to 
take  effect. 

378 

Both  what  is  reasonable  and  what  is  unrea- 
sonable have  to  undergo  the  like  contradiction. 

379 

Dialectic  is  the  culture  of  the  spirit  of  contra- 
diction, which  is  given  to  man  that  he  may  learn 
to  perceive  the  differences  between  things. 

380 

With  those  who  are  really  of  like  disposition 
with  himself  a  man  cannot  long  be  at  variance ; 
he  will  always  come  to  an  agreement  again. 
With  those  who  are  really  of  adverse  disposi- 
tion, he  may  in  vain  try  to  preserve  harmony; 
he  will  always  come  to  a  separation  again. 

381 

Opponents  fancy  they  refute  us  when  they 
repeat  their  own  opinion  and  pay  no  attention 
to  ours. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  143 

382 

People  who  contradict  and  dispute  should 
now  and  then  remember  that  not  every  mode 
of  speech  is  intelligible  to  every  one. 

383 
Every  man  hears  only  what  he  understands. 

384 

I  am  quite  prepared  to  find  that  many  a 
reader  will  disagree  with  me ;  but  when  he  has 
a  thing  before  him  in  black  and  white,  he  must 
let  it  stand.  Another  reader  may  perhaps  take 
up  the  very  same  copy  and  agree  with  me. 

385 
The  truest  liberality  is  appreciation. 

386 

For  the  strenuous  man  the  difficulty  is  to 
recognise  the  merits  of  elder  contemporaries 
and  not  let  himself  be  hindered  by  their 
defects. 

387 

Some  men  think  about  the  defects  of  their 
friends,  and  there  is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  it. 


144     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

I  have  always  paid  attention  to  the  merits  of 
my  enemies,  and  found  it  an  advantage. 

388 

There  are  many  men  who  fancy  they  under- 
stand whatever  they  experience. 

389 

The  public  must  be  treated  like  women :  they 
must  be  told  absolutely  nothing  but  what  they 
like  to  hear. 

390 

Every  age  of  man  has  a  certain  philosophy 
answering  to  it.  The  child  comes  out  as  a 
realist :  he  finds  himself  as  convinced  that  pears 
and  apples  exist  as  that  he  himself  exists.  The 
youth  in  a  storm  of  inner  passion  is  forced  to 
turn  his  gaze  within,  and  feel  in  advance  what 
he  is  going  to  be :  he  is  changed  into  an  ideal- 
ist. But  the  man  has  every  reason  to  become  a 
sceptic:  he  does  well  to  doubt  whether  the 
means  he  has  chosen  to  his  end  are  the  right 
ones.  Before  and  during  action  he  has  every 
reason  for  keeping  his  understanding  mobile, 
that  he  may  not  afterwards  have  to  grieve  over 
a  false  choice.  Yet  when  he  grows  old  he  will 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  145 

always  confess  himself  a  mystic  :  he  sees  that  so 
much  seems  to  depend  on  chance;  that  folly 
succeeds  and  wisdom  fails  ;  that  good  and  evil 
fortune  are  brought  unexpectedly  to  the  same 
level;  so  it  is  and  so  it  has  been,  and  old  age 
acquiesces  in  that  which  is  and  was  and  will  be. 


When  a  man  grows  old  he  must  consciously 
remain  at  a  certain  stage. 

392 

It  does  not  become  an  old  man  to  run  after 
the  fashion,  either  in  thought  or  in  dress.  But 
he  must  know  where  he  is,  and  what  the  others 
are  aiming  at. 

What  is  called  fashion  is  the  tradition  of  the 
moment.  All  tradition  carries  with  it  a  certain 
necessity  for  people  to  put  themselves  on  a 
level  with  it. 

393 

We  have  long  been  busy  with  the  critique  of 
reason.  I  should  like  to  see  a  critique  of 
common-sense.  It  would  be  a  real  benefit  to 
mankind  if  we  could  convincingly  prove  to  the 


146     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

ordinary  intelligence  how  far  it  can  go;  and 
that  is  just  as  much  as  it  fully  requires  for  life 
on  this  earth. 

394 

The  thinker  makes  a  great  mistake  when  he 
asks  after  cause  and  effect :  they  both  together 
make  up  the  indivisible  phenomenon. 

395 

All  practical  men  try  to  bring  the  world  un- 
der their  hands ;  all  thinkers,  under  their  heads. 
How  far  each  succeeds,  they  may  both  see  for 
themselves. 

396 

Shall  we  say  that  a  man  thinks  only  when  he 
cannot  think  out  that  of  which  he  is  thinking  ? 

397 

What  is  invention  or  discovery?  It  is  the 
conclusion  of  what  we  were  looking  for. 

398 

It  is  with  history  as  with  nature  and  with 
everything  of  any  depth,  it  may  be  past,  present, 
or  future:  the  further  we  seriously  pursue  it, 
the  more  difficult  are  the  problems  that  appear. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  147 

The  man  who  is  not  afraid  of  them,  but  attacks 
them  bravely,  has  a  feeling  of  higher  culture 
and  greater  ease  the  further  he  progresses. 

399 

Every  phenomenon  is  within  our  reach  if  we 
treat  it  as  an  inclined  plane,  which  is  of  easy 
ascent,  though  the  thick  end  of  the  wedge  may 
be  steep  and  inaccessible. 

400 

If  a  man  would  enter  upon  some  course  of 
knowledge,  he  must  either  be  deceived  or  deceive 
himself,  unless  external  necessity  irresistibly 
determines  him.  Who  would  become  a  physician 
if,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  he  saw  before  him 
all  the  horrible  sights  that  await  him  ? 

401 

How  many  years  must  a  man  do  nothing 
before  he  can  at  all  know  what  is  to  be  done 
and  how  to  do  it ! 

402 

Duty :  where  a  man  loves  what  he  commands 
himself  to  do. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 


LITERATURE  AND  ART 

403 

WHEN  Madame  Roland  was  on  the  scaffold, 
she  asked  for  pen  and  paper,  to  note  the  peculiar 
thoughts  that  hovered  about  her  on  the  last 
journey.  It  is  a  pity  they  were  refused,  for  in 
a  tranquil  mind  thoughts  rise  up  at  the  close  of 
life  hitherto  unthinkable;  like  blessed  inward 
voices,  alighting  in  glory  on  the  summits  of  the 

past. 

404 

Literature  is  a  fragment  of  fragments:  the 
least  of  what  happened  and  was  spoken,  has 
been  written ;  and  of  the  things  that  have  been 
written,  very  few  have  been  preserved. 

405 

And  yet,  with  all  the  fragmentary  nature 
of  literature,  we  find  thousand-fold  repetition ; 
which  shows  how  limited  is  man's  mind  and 
destiny. 


152     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

406 

Excellent  work  is  unfathomable,  approach  it 
as  you  will. 

407 

It  is  not  language  in  itself  which  is  correct  or 
forcible  or  elegant,  but  the  mind  that  is  embodied 
in  it;  and  so  it  is  not  for  a  man  to  determine 
whether  he  will  give  his  calculations  or  speeches 
or  poems  the  desired  qualities :  the  question  is 
whether  Nature  has  given  him  the  intellectual 
and  moral  qualities  which  fit  him  for  the  work, 
—  the  intellectual  power  of  observation  and  in- 
sight, the  moral  power  of  repelling  the  evil  spirits 
that  might  hinder  him  from  paying  respect  to 
truth. 

408 

The  appeal  to  posterity  springs  from  the  pure, 
strong  feeling  of  the  existence  of  something  im- 
perishable; something  that,  even  though  it  be 
not  at  once  recognised,  will  in  the  end  be  grati- 
fied by  finding  the  minority  turn  into  a  majority. 

409 

When  a  new  literature  succeeds,  it  obscures 
the  effect  of  an  earlier  one,  and  its  own  effect 


LITERATURE  AND  ART  153 

predominates;  so  that  it  is  well,  from  time  to 
time,  to  look  back.  What  is  original  in  us  is 
best  preserved  and  quickened  if  we  do  not  lose 
sight  of  those  who  have  gone  before  us. 

410 

The  most  original  authors  of  modern  times 
are  so,  not  because  they  produce  what  is  new, 
but  only  because  they  are  able  to  say  things 
the  like  of  which  seem  never  to  have  been  said 
before. 

4» 

Thus  the  best  sign  of  originality  lies  in 
taking  up  a  subject  and  then  developing  it  so 
fully  as  to  make  every  one  confess  that  he 
would  hardly  have  found  so  much  in  it. 

412 

There  are  many  thoughts  that  come  only  from 
general  culture,  like  buds  from  green  branches. 
When  roses  bloom,  you  see  them  blooming  every- 
where. 

413 

*  Lucidity  is  a  due  distribution  of  light  and 
shade.'  ffamann. 


154     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

414 

A  man  who  has  no  acquaintance  with  foreign 
languages  knows  nothing  of  his  own. 


We  must  remember  that  there  are  many  men 
who,  without  being  productive,  are  anxious  to 
I/      say  something  important,  and  the  results  are 
most  curious. 

416 

Deep  and  earnest  thinkers  are  in  a  difficult 
position  with  regard  to  the  public. 


Some  books  seem  to  have  been  written,  not 
to  teach  us  anything,  but  to  let  us  know  that 
the  author  has  known  something. 

418 

An  author  can  show  no  greater  respect  for 
his  public  than  by  never  bringing  it  what  it 
expects,  but  what  he  himself  thinks  right  and 
proper  in  that  stage  of  his  own  and  others'  cul- 
ture in  which  for  the  time  he  finds  himself. 


LITERATURE   AND   ART  155 

419 

The  so-called  Nature-poets  are  men  of  active 
talent,  with  a  fresh  stimulus  and  reaction  from 
an  over-cultured,  stagnant,  mannered  epoch  of 
art.  They  cannot  avoid  commonplace. 

420 

Productions  are  now  possible  which,  without 
being  bad,  have  no  value.  They  have  no  value, 
because  they  contain  nothing;  and  they  are  not 
bad,  because  a  general  form  of  good- workman- 
ship is  present  to  the  author's  mind. 

421 

All  lyrical  work  must,  as  a  whole,  be  per- 
fectly intelligible,  but  in  some  particulars  a 
little  unintelligible. 

422 

A  romance  is  a  subjective  epic  in  which  the 
author  begs  leave  to  treat  the  world  after  his 
own  ideas.  The  only  question  is,  whether  he 
has  any  ideas ;  the  rest  will  follow  of  itself. 

423 

Subjective  or  so-called  sentimental  poetry 
has  now  been  admitted  to  an  equality  with 


156     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OP  GOETHE 

objective  and  descriptive.  This  was  inevitable; 
because  otherwise  the  whole  of  modern  poetry 
would  have  to  be  discarded.  It  is  now  obvious 
that  when  men  of  truly  poetical  genius  appear, 
they  will  describe  more  of  the  particular  feel- 
ings of  the  inner  life  than  of  the  general  facts 
of  the  great  life  of  the  world.  This  has  already 
taken  place  to  such  a  degree  that  we  have  a 
poetry  without  figures  of  speech,  which  can  by 
no  means  be  refused  all  praise. 

424 

Superstition  is  the  poetry  of  life,  and  so  it 
does  not  hurt  the  poet  to  be  superstitious. 

425 

That  glorious  hymn,  Veni  Creator  Spiritus, 
is  really  an  appeal  to  genius.  That  is  why  it 
speaks  so  powerfully  to  men  of  intellect  and 
power. 

426 

Translators  are  like  busy  match-makers :  they 
sing  the  praises  of  some  half- veiled  beauty,  and 
extol  her  charms,  and  arouse  an  irresistible 
longing  for  the  original. 


LITEKATURE   AND   ART  157 

427 
A  Spinoza  in  poetry  becomes  a  Machiavelli  in 

philosophy. 

428 

Against  the  three  unities  there  is  nothing  to 
be  said,  if  the  subject  is  very  simple  ;  but  there 
are  times  when  thrice  three  unities,  skilfully 
interwoven,  produce  a  very  pleasant  effect. 

429 

The  sentimentality  of  the  English  is  humor- 
ous and  tender;  of  the  French,  popular  and 
pathetic  ;  of  the  Germans,  na'ive  and  realistic. 

430 

Mysticism  is  the  scholastic  of  the  heart,  the 
dialectic  of  the  feelings. 


If  a  man  sets  out  to  reproach  an  author  with 
obscurity,  he  should  first  of  all  examine  his  own 
mind,  to  see  if  he  is  himself  all  clearness  within. 
Twilight  makes  even  plain  writing  illegible. 

432 

It  is  with  books  as  with  new  acquaintances. 
At  first  we  are  highly  delighted,  if  we  find  a 


158     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

general  agreement, — if  we  are  pleasantly  moved 
on  any  of  the  chief  sides  of  our  existence.  With 
a  closer  acquaintance  differences  come  to  light; 
and  then  reasonable  conduct  mainly  consists  in 
not  shrinking  back  at  once,  as  may  happen  in 
youth,  but  in  keeping  firm  hold  of  the  things 
in  which  we  agree,  and  being  quite  clear  about 
the  things  in  which  we  differ,  without  on  that 
account  desiring  any  union. 

433 

In  psychological  reflection  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty is  this :  that  inner  and  outer  must  always 
be  viewed  in  parallel  lines,  or,  rather,  inter- 
woven. It  is  a  continual  systole  and  diastole, 
an  inspiration  and  an  expiration  of  the  living 
soul.  If  this  cannot  be  put  into  words,  it  should 
be  carefully  marked  and  noted. 

434 

My  relations  with  Schiller  rested  on  the 
decided  tendency  of  both  of  us  towards  a  single 
aim,  and  our  common  activity  rested  on  the 
diversity  of  the  means  by  which  we  endeavoured 
to  attain  that  aim. 


LITERATURE   AND  ART  159 

435 

Once  when  a  slight  difference  was  mentioned 
between  us,  of  which  I  was  reminded  by  a 
passage  in  a  letter  of  his,  I  made  the  following 
reflections  :  There  is  a  great  difference  between 
a  poet  seeking  the  particular  for  the  universal, 
and  seeing  the  universal  in  the  particular.  The 
one  gives  rise  to  Allegory,  where  the  particular 
serves  only  as  instance  or  example  of  the  gen- 
eral ;  but  the  other  is  the  true  nature  of  Poetry, 
namely,  the  expression  of  the  particular  without 
any  thought  of,  or  reference  to,  the  general. 
If  a  man  grasps  the  particular  vividly,  he  also 
grasps  the  general,  without  being  aware  of  it  at 
the  time  ;  or  he  may  make  the  discovery  long 
afterwards. 

436 

There  may  be  eclectic  philosophers,  but  not 
an  eclectic  philosophy. 

437 

But  every  one  is  an  eclectic  who,  out  of  the 
things  that  surround  and  take  place  about  him, 
appropriates  what  is  suited  to  his  nature ;  and 
this  is  what  is  meant  by  culture  and  progress, 
in  matters  of  theory  or  practice. 


160     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

438 

Various  maxims  of  the  ancients,  which  we  are 
wont  to  repeat  again  and  again,  had  a  meaning 
quite  different  from  that  which  is  apt  to  attach 
to  them  in  later  times. 

439 

The  saying  that  no  one  who  is  unacquainted 
with  or  a  stranger  to  geometry  should  enter  the 
philosopher's  school,  does  not  mean  that  a  man 
must  become  a  mathematician  to  attain  the 
wisdom  of  the  world. 

440 

Geometry  is  here  taken  in  its  primary 
elements,  such  as  are  contained  in  Euclid  and 
laid  before  every  beginner ;  and  then  it  is  the 
most  perfect  propaedeutic  and  introduction  to 
philosophy. 

441 

When  a  boy  begins  to  understand  that  an 
invisible  point  must  always  come  before  a  visible 
one,  and  that  the  shortest  way  between  two 
points  is  a  straight  line,  before  he  can  draw  it 
on  his  paper  with  a  pencil,  he  experiences  a  cer- 
tain pride  and  pleasure.  And  he  is  not  wrong  ; 


LITERATURE   AND  AKT  161 

for  he  has  the  source  of  all  thought  opened  to 
him  ;  idea  and  reality,  potentia  et  actu,  are 
become  clear;  the  philosopher  has  no  new  dis- 
covery to  bring  him  ;  as  a  mathematician,  he 
has  found  the  basis  of  all  thought  for  himself. 

442 

And  if  we  turn  to  that  significant  utterance, 
Know  thyself,  we  must  not  explain  it  in  an 
ascetic  sense.  It  is  in  nowise  the  self-know- 
ledge of  our  modern  hypochondrists,  humorists, 
and  self-tormentors.  It  simply  means :  pay 
some  attention  to  yourself  ;  take  note  of  your- 
self ;  so  that  you  may  know  how  you  come  to 
stand  towards  those  like  you  and  towards  the 
world.  This  involves  no  psychological  torture  ; 
every  capable  man  knows  and  feels  what  it 
means.  It  is  a  piece  of  good  advice  which 
every  one  will  find  of  the  greatest  advantage  in 
practice. 

443 

Let  us  remember  how  great  the  ancients 
were  ;  and  especially  how  the  Socratic  school 
holds  up  to  us  the  source  and  standard  of  all 
life  and  action,  and  bids  us  not  indulge  in  empty 
speculation,  but  live  and  do. 


162     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF   GOETHE 

444 

So  long  as  our  scholastic  education  takes  us 
back  to  antiquity  and  furthers  the  study  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  languages,  we  may  congratu- 
late ourselves  that  these  studies,  so  necessary 
for  the  higher  culture,  will  never  disappear. 

445 

If  we  set  our  gaze  on  antiquity  and  earnestly 
study  it,  in  the  desire  to  form  ourselves  thereon, 
we  get  the  feeling  as  if  it  were  only  then  that 
we  really  became  men. 

446 

The  pedagogue,  in  trying  to  write  and  speak 
Latin,  has  a  higher  and  grander  idea  of  himself 
than  would  be  permissible  in  ordinary  life. 

447 

In  the  presence  of  antiquity,  the  mind  that  is 
susceptible  to  poetry  and  art  feels  itself  placed 
in  the  most  pleasing  ideal  state  of  nature ;  and 
even  to  this  day  the  Homeric  hymns  have  the 
power  of  freeing  us,  at  any  rate,  for  moments, 
from  the  frightful  burden  which  the  tradition 
of  several  thousand  years  has  rolled  upon  us. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART  163 

448 

There  is  no  such  thing^as  patrioticjart  and 
patriotic  science._  Both  art  and  science  belong, 
Tike  all  things  great  and  good,  to  the  whole 
world,  and  can  be  furthered  only  by  a  free 
and  general  interchange  of  ideas  among  con- 
temporaries, with  continual  reference  to  the 
heritage  of  the  past  as  it  is  known  to  us. 

449 

Poetical  talent  is  given  to  peasant  as  well  as 
to  knight ;  all  that  is  required  is  that  each  shall 
grasp  his  position  and  treat  it  worthily. 

45° 

An  historic  sense  means  a  sense  so  cultured 
that,  in  valuing  the  deserts  and  merits  of  its 
own  time,  it  takes  account  also  of  the  past. 

451 

The  best  that  history  gives  us  is  the  enthusi- 
asm it  arouses. 

452 

The  historian's  duty  is  twofold :  first  towards 
himself,  then  towards  his  readers.  As  regards 
himself,  he  must  carefully  examine  into  the 


164     MAXIMS  AND  KEFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

things  that  could  have  happened;  and,  for  the 
reader's  sake,  he  must  determine  what  actually 
did  happen.  His  action  towards  himself  is  a 
matter  between  himself  and  his  colleagues ;  but 
the  public  must  not  see  into  the  secret  that 
there  is  little  in  history  which  can  be  said  to  be 
positively  determined. 

453 

The  historian's  duty  is  to  separate  the  true 
from  the  false,  the  certain  from  the  uncertain, 
and  the  doubtful  from  that  which  cannot  be 
accepted. 

454 

It  is  seldom  that  any  one  of  great  age 
becomes  historical  to  himself,  and  finds  his 
contemporaries  become  historical  to  him,  so 
that  he  neither  cares  nor  is  able  to  argue  with 
any  one. 

455 

On  a  closer  examination  of  the  matter,  it  will 
be  found  that  the  historian  does  not  easily  grasp 
history  as  something  historical.  In  whatever 
age  he  may  live,  the  historian  always  writes  as 
though  he  himself  had  been  present  at  the  time 


LITERATURE  AND  ART  165 

of  which,  he  treats,  instead  of  simply  narrating 
the  facts  and  movements  of  that  time.  Even 
the  mere  chronicler  only  points  more  or  less  to 
his  own  limitations,  or  the  peculiarities  of  his 
town  or  monastery  or  age. 

456 

We  really  learn  only  from  those  books  which 
we  cannot  criticise.  The  author  of  a  book 
which  we  could  criticise  would  have  to  learn 
from  us. 

457 

That  is  the  reason  why  the  Bible  will  never 
lose  its  power;  because*,  as  long  as  the  world 
lasts,  no  one  can  stand  up  and  say :  I  grasp  it 
as  a  whole  and  understand  all  the  parts  of  it. 
But  we  say  humbly :  as  a  whole  it  is  worthy  of 
respect,  and  in  all  its  parts  it  is  applicable. 

458 

There  is  and  will  be  much  discussion  as  to 
the  use  and  harm  of  circulating  the  Bible.  One 
thing  is  clear  to  me:  mischief  will  result,  as 
heretofore,  by  using  it  phantastically  as  a 
system  of  dogma;  benefit,  as  heretofore,  by  a 
loving  acceptance  of  its  teachings. 


166     MAXIMS  AND  KEFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

459 

I  am  convinced  that  the  Bible  will  always  be 
more  beautiful  the  more  it  is  understood;  the 
more,  that  is,  we  see  and  observe  that  every 
word  which  we  take  in  a  general  sense  and 
apply  specially  to  ourselves,  had,  under  certain 
circumstances  of  time  and  place,  a  peculiar, 
special,  and  directly  individual  reference. 

460 

The  incurable  evil  of  religious  controversy  is 
that  while  one  party  wants  to  connect  the 
highest  interest  of  humanity  with  fables  and 
phrases,  the  other  tries  to  rest  it  on  things  that 
satisfy  no  one. 

461 

If  one  has  not  read  the  newspapers  for  some 
months  and  then  reads  them  all  together,  one 
sees,  as  one  never  saw  before,  how  much  time  is 
wasted  with  this  kind  of  literature. 

462 

The  classical  is  health;  and  the  romantic, 
disease. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART  167 

463 

Ovid  remained  classical  even  in  exile :  it  is 
not  in  himself  that  he  sees  misfortune,  but  in 
his  banishment  from  the  metropolis  of  the 

world. 

464 

The  romantic  is  already  fallen  into  its  own 
abysm.  It  is  hard  to  imagine  anything  more 
degraded  than  the  worst  of  the  new  productions. 

465 

Bodies  which  rot  while  they  are  still  alive, 
and  are  edified  by  the  detailed  contemplation  of 
their  own  decay ;  dead  men  who  remain  in  the 
world  for  the  ruin  of  others,  and  feed  their 
death  on  the  living,  —  to  this  have  come  our 
makers  of  literature. 

When  the  same  thing  happened  in  antiquity, 
it  was  only  as  a  strange  token  of  some  rare  dis- 
ease ;  but  with  the  moderns  the  disease  has 
become  endemic  and  epidemic. 

466 

Literature  decays  only  as  men  become  more 
and  more  corrupt. 


168     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 
467 

What  a  day  it  is  when  we  must  envy  the 
men  in  their  graves ! 

468 

The  things  that  are  true,  good,  excellent,  are 
simple  and  always  alike,  whatever  their  appear- 
ance may  be.  But  the  error  that  we  blame  is 
extremely  manifold  and  varying ;  it  is  in  con- 
.  flict  not  only  with  the  good  and  the  true,  but 
also  with  itself ;  it  is  self-contradictory.  Thus 
it  is  that  the  words  of  blame  in  our  literature 
must  necessarily  outnumber  the  words  of  praise. 

469 

The  Greeks,  whose  poetry  and  rhetoric  was  of 
a  simple  and  positive  character,  express  approval 
more  often  than  disapproval.  With  the  Latin 
writers  it  is  the  contrary ;  and  the  more  poetry 
and  the  arts  of  speech  decay,  the  more  will 
blame  swell  and  praise  shrink. 

470 

4  What  are  tragedies  but  the  versified  passions 
of  people  who  make  Heaven  knows  what  out  of 
the  external  world  ? ' 


LITERATURE   AND   ART  169 

471 

There  are  certain  empirical  enthusiasts  who 
are  quite  right  in  showing  their  enthusiasm 
over  new  productions  that  are  good;  but  they 
are  as  ecstatic  as  if  there  were  no  other  good 
work  in  the  world  at  all. 

472 

In  Sakontala  the  poet  appears  in  his  highest 
function.  As  the  representative  of  the  most 
natural  condition  of  things,  the  finest  mode  of 
life,  the  purest  moral  endeavour,  the  worthiest 
majesty,  and  the  most  solemn  worship,  he 
ventures  on  common  and  ridiculous  contrasts. 

473 

Shakespeare's  Henry  IV.  If  everything  were 
lost  that  has  ever  been  preserved  to  us  of  this 
kind  of  writing,  the  arts  of  poetry  and  rhetoric 
could  be  completely  restored  out  of  this  one 
play. 

474 

Shakespeare's  finest  dramas  are  wanting  here 
and  there  in  facility :  they  are  something  more 
than  they  should  be,  and  for  that  very  reason 
indicate  the  great  poet. 


170     MAXIMS  AND  KEFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

475 

Shakespeare  is  dangerous  reading  for  budding 
talents :  he  compels  them  to  reproduce  him, 
and  they  fancy  they  are  producing  themselves. 

476 

Yorick  Sterne  was  the  finest  spirit  that  ever 
worked.  To  read  him  is  to  attain  a  fine  feeling 
of  freedom ;  his  humour  is  inimitable,  and  it  is 
not  every  kind  of  humour  that  frees  the  soul. 

477 

The  peculiar  value  of  so-called  popular 
ballads  is  that  their  motives  are  drawn  direct 
from  nature.  This,  however,  is  an  advantage 
of  which  the  poet  of  culture  could  also  avail 
himself,  if  he  knew  how  to  do  it. 

478 

But  in  popular  ballads  there  is  always  this 
advantage,  that  in  the  art  of  saying  things 
shortly  uneducated  men  are  always  better 
skilled  than  those  who  are  in  the  strict  sense 
of  the  word  educated. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART  171 

479 

Cremuth  =  Heart.  The  translator  must  pro- 
ceed until  he  reaches  the  untranslatable  ;  and 
then  only  will  he  have  an  idea  of  the  foreign 
nation  and  the  foreign  tongue. 


480 

When  we  say  of  a  landscape  that  it  has  a 
romantic  character,  it  is  the  secret  feeling  of  the 
sublime  taking  the  form  of  the  past,  or,  what  is 
the  same  thing,  of  solitude,  absence,  or  seclusion. 

481 

The  Beautiful  is  a  manifestation  of  secret 
laws  of  nature,  which,  without  its  presence, 
would  never  have  been  revealed. 

482 

It  is  said  :  Artist,  study  nature  !    But  it  is  no        / 
trifle  to  develop  the  noble  out  of  the  common-     V 
place,  or  beauty  out  of  uniformity. 

483 

When  Nature  begins  to  reveal  her  open  secret 
to  a  man,  he  feels  an  irresistible  longing  for  her 
worthiest  interpreter,  Art. 


172     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

484 

For  all  other  Arts  we  must  make  some  allow- 
ance ;  but  to  Greek  Art  alone  we  are  always 
debtors. 

485 

There  is  no  surer  way  of  evading  the  world 
than  by  Art ;  and  no  surer  way  of  uniting  with 
it  than  by  Art. 

486 

Even  in  the  moments  of  highest  happiness 
and  deepest  misery  we  need  the  Artist. 

487 

False  tendencies  of  the  senses  are  a  kind  of 
desire  after  realism,  always  better  than  that 
false  tendency  which  expresses  itself  as  ideal- 
istic longing. 

488 

The  dignity  of  Art  appears  perhaps  most 
conspicuously  in  Music ;  for  in  Music  there 
is  no  material  to  be  deducted.  It  is  wholly 
form  and  intrinsic  value,  and  it  raises  and 
ennobles  all  that  it  expresses. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART  173 

489 

It  is  only  by  Art,  and  especially  by  Poetry, 
that  the  imagination  is  regulated.  Nothing  is 
more  frightful  than  imagination  without  taste. 

49° 

If  we  were  to  despise  Art  on  the  ground  that 
it  is  an  imitation  of  Nature,  it  might  be 
answered  that  Nature  also  imitates  much  else ; 
further,  that  Art  does  not  exactly  imitate  that 
which  can  be  seen  by  the  eyes,  but  goes  back  to 
that  element  of  reason  of  which  Nature  consists 
and  according  to  which  Nature  acts. 

491 

Further,  the  Arts  also  produce  much  out  of 
themselves,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  add  much 
where  Nature  fails  in  perfection,  in  that  they 
possess  beauty  in  themselves.  So  it  was  that 
Pheidias  could  sculpture  a  god  although  he 
had  nothing  that  could  be  seen  by  the  eye  to 
imitate,  but  grasped  the  appearance  which  Zeus 
himself  would  have  if  he  were  to  come  before 
our  eyes. 


174     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

492 

Art  rests  upon  a  kind  of  religious  sense :  it  is 
deeply  and  ineradicably  in  earnest.  Thus  it  is 
that  Art  so  willingly  goes  hand  in  hand  with 
Religion. 

493 

A  noble  philosopher  spoke  of  architecture  as 
frozen  music ;  and  it  was  inevitable  that  many 
people  should  shake  their  heads  over  his 
remark.  We  believe  that  no  better  repetition 
of  this  fine  thought  can  be  given  than  by  calling 
architecture  a  speechless  music. 

494 

Art  is  essentially  noble ;  therefore  the  artist 
has  nothing  to  fear  from  a  low  or  common 
subject.  Nay,  by  taking  it  up,  he  ennobles  it ; 
and  so  it  is  that  we  see  the  greatest  artists 
boldly  exercising  their  sovereign  rights. 

495 

In  every  artist  there  is  a  germ  of  daring, 
without  which  no  talent  is  conceivable. 

496 

All  the  artists  who  are  already  known  to  me 
from  so  many  sides,  I  propose  to  consider  exclu- 


LITERATURE  AND  ART  175 

sively  from  the  ethical  side;  to  explain  from 
the  subject-matter  and  method  of  their  work 
the  part  played  therein  by  time  and  place, 
nation  and  master,  and  their  own  indestructible 
personality ;  to  mould  them  to  what  they  became 
and  to  preserve  them  in  what  they  were. 

497 

Art  is  a  medium  of  what  no  tongue  can 
utter ;  and  thus  it  seems  a  piece  of  folly  to  try 
to  convey  its  meaning  afresh  by  means  of  words. 
But,  by  trying  to  do  so,  the  understanding 
gains;  and  this,  again,  benefits  the  faculty  in 

practice. 

498 

An  artist  who  produces  valuable  work  is  not 
always  able  to  give  an  account  of  his  own  or 
others'  performances. 

499 

We  know  of  no  world  except  in  relation  to 
mankind ;  and  we  wish  for  no  Art  that  does  not 
bear  the  mark  of  this  relation. 

500 

Higher  aims  are  in  themselves  more  valuable, 
even  if  unfulfilled,  than  lower  ones  quite 
attained. 


176     MAXIMS  AND  EEFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

501 

Blunt  naivety,  stubborn  vigour,  scrupulous 
observance  of  rule,  and  any  other  epithets  which 
may  apply  to  older  German  Art,  are  a  part  of 
every  earlier  and  simpler  artistic  method.  The 
older  Venetians,  Florentines,  and  others  had  it 

all  too. 

502 

Because  Albrecht  Diirer,  with  his  incompar- 
able talent,  could  never  rise  to  the  idea  of  the 
symmetry  of  beauty,  or  even  to  the  thought  of 
a  fitting  conformity  to  the  object  in  view,  are 
we  never  to  spurn  the  ground ! 

503 

Albrecht  Diirer  had  the  advantage  of  a  very 
profound  realistic  perception,  an  affectionate 
human  sympathy  with  all  present  conditions. 
He  was  kept  back  by  a  gloomy  phantasy,  devoid 
both  of  form  and  foundation. 

5°4 

It  would  be  interesting  to  show  how  Martin 
Schon  stands  near  him,  and  how  the  merits  of 
German  Art  were  restricted  to  these  two ;  and 
useful  also  to  show  that  it  was  not  evening 
every  day. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART  177 

505 

In  every  Italian  school  the  butterfly  breaks 
loose  from  the  chrysalis. 

506 

After  Klopstock  released  us  from  rhyme,  and 
Voss  gave  us  models  of  prose,  are  we  to  make 
doggerel  again  like  Hans  Sachs  ? 

507 

Let  us  be  many-sided !  Turnips  are  good,  but 
they  are  best  mixed  with  chestnuts.  And  these 
two  noble  products  of  the  earth  grow  far  apart. 

508 

In  every  kind  of  Art  there  is  a  degree  of  excel- 
lence which  may  be  reached,  so  to  speak,  by  the 
mere  use  of  one's  own  natural  talents.  But  at 
the  same  time  it  is  impossible  to  go  beyond  that 
point,  unless  Art  comes  to  one's  aid. 

5°9 

In  the  presence  of  Nature  even  moderate 
talent  is  always  possessed  of  insight ;  hence 
drawings  from  Nature  that  are  at  all  carefully 
done  always  give  pleasure. 


178     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF   GOETHE 

510 

To  make  many  sketches  issue  at  last  in  a 
complete  work  is  something  that  not  even  the 
best  artists  always  achieve. 


In  the  sphere  of  true  Art  there  is  no  prepara- 
tory school,  but  there  is  a  way  of  preparation  ; 
and  the  best  preparation  is  the  interest  of  the 
most  insignificant  pupil  in  the  work  of  the 
master.  Colour-grinders  have  often  made  excel- 
lent painters. 

512 

If  an  artist  grasps  Nature  aright  and  contrives 
to  give  its  form  a  nobler,  freer  grace,  no  one 
will  understand  the  source  of  his  inspiration, 
and  every  one  will  swear  that  he  has  taken  it 
from  the  antique. 

5i3 

In  studying  the  human  form,  let  the  painter 
reject  what  is  exaggerated,  false,  and  mechan- 
ical ;  but  let  him  learn  to  grasp  of  what  infinite 
grace  the  human  body  is  capable. 


LITERATURE  AND  ART  179 


Kant  taught  us  the  critique  of  the  reason. 
We  must  have  a  critique  of  the  senses  if  Art  in 
general,  and  especially  German  Art,  is  ever  to 
regain  its  tone  and  move  forward  on  the  path  of 
life  and  happiness. 


SCIENCE 


SCIENCE 

515 

IN  the  sphere  of  natural  science  let  us  remember 
that  we  have  always  to  deal  with  an  insoluble 
problem.  Let  us  prove  keen  and  honest  in 
attending  to  anything  which  is  in  any  way 
brought  to  our  notice,  most  of  all  when  it  does 
not  fit  in  with  our  previous  ideas.  For  it  is 
only  thereby  that  we  perceive  the  problem, 
which  does  indeed  lie  in  nature,  but  still  more 
in  man. 

5i6 

A  man  cannot  well  stand  by  himself,  and  so 
he  is  glad  to  join  a  party;  because  if  he  does 
not  find  rest  there,  he  at  any  rate  finds  quiet 
and  safety. 

5i7 

It  is  a  misfortune  to  pass  at  once  from  obser- 
vation to  conclusion,  and  to  regard  both  as  of 
equal  value  ;  but  it  befalls  many  a  student. 
183 


184      MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 


In  the  history  of  science  and  throughout  the 
whole  course  of  its  progress  we  see  certain 
epochs  following  one  another  more  or  less 
rapidly.  Some  important  view  is  expressed,  it 
may  be  original  or  only  revived  ;  sooner  or  later 
it  receives  recognition  ;  fellow-workers  spring 
up  ;  the  outcome  of  it  finds  its  way  into  the 
schools  ;  it  is  taught  and  handed  down  ;  and  we 
observe,  unhappily,  that  -it  does  not  in  the  least 
matter  whether  the  view  be  true  or  false.  In 
either  case  its  course  is  the  same  ;  in  either  case 
it  comes  in  the  end  to  be  a  mere  phrase,  a 
lifeless  word  stamped  on  the  memory. 

5*9 

First  let  a  man  teach  himself,  and  then  he 
will  be  taught  by  others. 

520 

Theories  are  usually  the  over-hasty  efforts  of 
an  impatient  understanding  that  would  gladly 
be  rid  of  phenomena,  and  so  puts  in  their  place 
pictures,  notions,  nay,  often  mere  words.  We 
may  surmise,  or  even  see  quite  well,  that  such 
theories  are  make-shifts  ;  but  do  not  passion  and 


SCIENCE  185 

party-spirit  love  a  make-shift  at  all  times  ?  And 
rightly,  too,  because  they  stand  in  so  much  need 
of  it. 

It  is  difficult  to  know  how  to  treat  the  errors 
of  the  age.  If  a  man  oppose  them,  he  stands 
alone ;  if  he  surrender  to  them,  they  bring  him 
neither  joy  nor  credit. 

522 

There  are  some  hundred  Christian  sects,  every 
one  of  them  acknowledging  God  and  the  Lord 
in  its  own  way,  without  troubling  themselves 
further  about  one  another.  In  the  study  of 
nature,  nay,  in  every  study,  things  must  of 
necessity  come  to  the  same  pass.  For  what  is 
the  meaning  of  everyone  speaking  of  toleration, 
and  trying  to  prevent  others  from  thinking  and 
expressing  themselves  after  their  own  fashion  ? 

523 

To  communicate  knowledge  by  means  of 
analogy  appears  to  me  a  process  equally  useful 
and  pleasant.  The  analogous  case  is  not  there 
to  force  itself  on  the  attention  or  prove  anything ; 
it  offers  a  comparison  with  some  other  case,  but 


186      MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF   GOETHE 

is  not  in  union  with  it.  Several  analogous  cases 
do  not  join  to  form  a  seried  row :  they  are  like 
good  society,  which  always  suggests  more  than 
it  grants. 

524 

To  err  is  to  be  as  though  truth  did  not  exist. 
To  lay  bare  the  error  to  oneself  and  others  is 
retrospective  discovery. 

525 

With  the  growth  of  knowledge  our  ideas 
must  from  time  to  time  be  organised  afresh. 
The  change  takes  place  usually  in  accordance 
with  new  maxims  as  they  arise,  but  it  always 
remains  provisional. 

526 

When  we  find  facts  within  our  knowledge 
exhibited  by  some  new  method,  or  even,  it  may 
be,  described  in  a  foreign  language,  they  receive 
a  peculiar  charm  of  novelty  and  wear  a  fresh 
air. 

527 

If  two  masters  of  the  same  art  differ  in  their 
statement  of  it,  in  all  likelihood  the  insoluble 
problem  lies  midway  between  them. 


SCIENCE  187 

528 

The  orbits  of  certainties  touch  one  another; 
but  in  the  interstices  there  is  room  enough  for 
error  to  go  forth  and  prevail. 

529 

We  more  readily  confess  to  errors,  mistakes, 
and  shortcomings  in  our  conduct  than  in  our 
thought. 

530 

And  the  reason  of  it  is  that  the  conscience 
is  humble  and  even  takes  a  pleasure  in  being 
ashamed.  But  the  intellect  is  proud,  and  if 
forced  to  recant  is  driven  to  despair. 


This  also  explains  how  it  is  that  truths 
which  have  been  recognised  are  at  first  tacitly 
admitted,  and  then  gradually  spread,  so  that 
the  very  thing  which  was  obstinately  denied 
appears  at  last  as  something  quite  natural. 

532 

Ignorant  people  raise  questions  which  were 
answered  by  the  wise  thousands  of  years  ago. 


188     MAXIMS  AND  EEFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

533 
When  a  man  sees  a  phenomenon  before  him, 

his  thoughts  often  range  beyond  it;  when  he 
hears  it  only  talked  about,  he  has  no  thoughts 
at  all. 

534 

Authority.  Man  cannot  exist  without  it,  and 
yet  it  brings  in  its  train  just  as  much  of  error  as 
of  truth.  It  perpetuates  one  by  one  things  which 
should  pass  away  one  by  one;  it  rejects  that 
which  should  be  preserved  and  allows  it  to  pass 
away ;  and  it  is  chiefly  to  blame  for  mankind's 
want  of  progress. 

535 

Authority  —  the  fact,  namely,  that  something 
has  already  happened  or  been  said  or  decided,  is 
of  great  value;  but  it  is  only  a  pedant  who 
demands  authority  for  everything. 

536 

An  old  foundation  is  worthy  of  all  respect, 
but  it  must  not  take  from  us  the  right  to  build 
afresh  wherever  we  will. 

537 

Our  advice  is  that  every  man  should  remain 
in  the  path  he  has  struck  out  for  himself,  and 


SCIENCE  189 

refuse  to  be  overawed  by  authority,  hampered 
by  prevalent  opinion,  or  carried  away  by  fashion. 

538 

The  various  branches  of  knowledge  always 
tend  as  a  whole  to  stray  away  from  life,  and 
return  thither  only  by  a  roundabout  way. 

539 

For  they  are,  in  truth,  text-books  of  life: 
they  gather  outer  and  inner  experiences  into 
a  general  and  connected  whole. 

540 

An  important  fact,  an  ingenious  aperfu, 
occupies  a  very  great  number  of  men,  at  first 
only  to  make  acquaintance  with  it;  then  to 
understand  it;  and  afterwards  to  work  it  out 
and  carry  it  further. 

54i 

On  the  appearance  of  anything  new  the  mass 
of  people  ask:  What  is  the  use  of  it?  And 
they  are  not  wrong.  For  it  is  only  through 
the  use  of  anything  that  they  can  perceive  its 
value. 


190     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

542 

The  truly  wise  ask  what  the  thing  is  in  itself 
and  in  relation  to  other  things,  and  do  not 
trouble  themselves  about  the  use  of  it,  —  in 
other  words,  about  the  way  in  which  it  may  be 
applied  to  the  necessities  of  existence  and  what 
is  already  known.  This  will  soon  be  discovered 
by  minds  of  a  very  different  order  —  minds  that 
feel  the  joy  of  living,  and  are  keen,  adroit,  and 
practical. 

543 

Every  investigator  must  before  all  things 
look  upon  himself  as  one  who  is  summoned  to 
serve  on  a  jury.  He  has  only  to  consider  how 
far  the  statement  of  the  case  is  complete  and 
clearly  set  forth  by  the  evidence.  Then  he 
draws  his  conclusion  and  gives  his  vote,  whether 
it  be  that  his  opinion  coincides  with  that  of  the 
foreman  or  not. 

544 

And  in  acting  thus  he  remains  equally  at  ease 
whether  the  majority  agree  with  him  or  he  finds 
himself  in  a  minority.  For  he  has  done  what 
he  could :  he  has  expressed  his  convictions ; 
and  he  is  not  master  of  the  minds  or  hearts  of 
others. 


SCIENCE  191 

545 

In  the  world  of  science,  however,  these  senti- 
ments have  never  been  of  much  account.  There 
everything  depends  on  making  opinion  prevail 
and  dominate ;  few  men  are  really  independent ; 
the  majority  draws  the  individual  after  it. 

546 

The  history  of  philosophy,  of  science,  of 
religion,  all  shows  that  opinions  spread  in 
masses,  but  that  that  always  comes  to  the  front 
which  is  more  easily  grasped,  that  is  to  say,  is 
most  suited  and  agreeable  to  the  human  mind 
in  its  ordinary  condition.  Nay,  he  who  has 
practised  self-culture  in  the  higher  sense  may 
always  reckon  upon  meeting  an  adverse 
majority. 

547 

There  is  much  that  is  true  which  does  not 
admit  of  being  calculated;  just  as  there  are  a 
great  many  things  that  cannot  be  brought  to 
the  test  of  a  decisive  experiment. 

548 

It  is  just  for  this  that  man  stands  so  high, 
that  what  could  not  otherwise  be  brought  to 
light  should  be  brought  to  light  in  him. 


192     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS   OF  GOETHE 

What  is  a  musical  string,  and  all  its  mechan- 
ical division,  in  comparison  with  the  musician's 
ear?  May  we  not  also  say,  what  are  the  ele- 
mentary phenomena  of  nature  itself  compared 
with  man,  who  must  control  and  modify  them 
all  before  he  can  in  any  way  assimilate  them  to 
himself  ? 

549 

To  a  new  truth  there  is  nothing  more  hurtful 
than  an  old  error. 

55° 

The  ultimate  origin  of  things  is  completely 
beyond  our  faculties  ;  hence  when  we  see 
anything  come  into  being,  we  look  upon  it  as 
having  been  already  there.  This  is  why  we 
find  the  theory  of  emboitement  intelligible. 


There  are  many  problems  in  natural  science 
on  which  we  cannot  fittingly  speak  unless  we 
call  metaphysics  to  our  aid  ;  but  not  the  wisdom 
of  the  schools,  which  consists  in  mere  verbiage. 
It  is  that  which  was  before  physics,  exists  with 
it,  and  will  be  after  it. 


SCIENCE  193 

552 

Since  men  are  really  interested  in  nothing  but 
their  own  opinions,  every  one  who  puts  forward 
an  opinion  looks  about  him  right  and  left  for 
means  of  strengthening  himself  and  others  in  it. 
A  man  avails  himself  of  the  truth  so  long  as  it 
is  serviceable ;  but  he  seizes  on  what  is  false 
with  a  passionate  eloquence  as  soon  as  he  can 
make  a  momentary  use  of  it ;  whether  it  be  to 
dazzle  others  with  it  as  a  kind  of  half-truth,  or 
to  employ  it  as  a  stopgap  for  effecting  an 
apparent  union  between  things  that  have  been 
disjointed.  This  experience  at  first  caused  me 
annoyance,  and  then  sorrow;  and  now  it  is 
a  source  of  mischievous  satisfaction.  I  have 
pledged  myself  never  again  to  expose  a 
proceeding  of  this  kind. 

553 

Everything  that  we  call  Invention  or  Dis- 
covery in  the  higher  sense  of  the  word  is  the 
serious  exercise  and  activity  of  an  original  feel- 
ing for  truth,  which,  after  a  long  course  of  silent 
cultivation,  suddenly  flashes  out  into  fruitful 
knowledge.  It  is  a  revelation  working  from 


194     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

within  on  the  outer  world,  and  lets  a  man  feel 
that  he  is  made  in  the  image  of  God.  It  is  a 
synthesis  of  World  and  Mind,  giving  the  most 
blessed  assurance  of  the  eternal  harmony  of 
things. 

554 

A  man  must  cling  to  the  belief  that  the 
incomprehensible  is  comprehensible;  otherwise 
he  would  not  try  to  fathom  it. 

555 

There  are  pedants  who  are  also  rascals,  and 
they  are  the  worst  of  all. 

556 

A  man  does  not  need  to  have  seen  or  experi- 
enced everything  himself.  But  if  he  is  to  com- 
mit himself  to  another's  experiences  and  his 
way  of  putting  them,  let  him  consider  that  he 
has  to  do  with  three  things  —  the  object  in 
question  and  two  subjects. 

557 

The  supreme  achievement  would  be  to  see 
that  stating  a  fact  is  starting  a  theory. 


SCIENCE  195 

558 

If  I  acquiesce  at  last  in  some  ultimate  fact  of 
nature,  it  is,  no  doubt,  only  resignation ;  but  it 
makes  a  great  difference  whether  the  resigna- 
tion takes  place  at  the  limits  of  human  faculty, 
or  within  the  hypothetical  boundaries  of  my 
own  narrow  individuality. 

559 

If  we  look  at  the  problems  raised  by  Aristotle, 
we  are  astonished  at  his  gift  of  observation. 
What  wonderful  eyes  the  Greeks  had  for  many 
things !  Only  they  committed  the  mistake  of 
being  overhasty,  of  passing  straightway  from 
the  phenomenon  to  the  explanation  of  it,  and 
thereby  produced  certain  theories  that  are  quite 
inadequate.  But  this  is  the  mistake  of  all 
times,  and  still  made  in  our  own  day. 

560 

Hypotheses  are  cradle-songs  by  which  the 
teacher  lulls  his  scholars  to  sleep.  The  thought- 
ful and  honest  observer  is  always  learning  more 
and  more  of  his  limitations ;  he  sees  that  the 
further  knowledge  spreads,  the  more  numerous 
are  the  problems  that  make  their  appearance. 


196     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

56i 

Our  mistake  is  that  we  doubt  what  is  certain 
and  want  to  establish  what  is  uncertain.  My 
maxim  in  the  study  of  Nature  is  this:  hold 
fast  what  is  certain  and  keep  a  watch  on  what 
is  uncertain. 

562 

What  a  master  a  man  would  be  in  his  own 
subject  if  he  taught  nothing  useless  ! 

563 

The  greatest  piece  of  folly  is  that  every  man 
thinks  himself  compelled  to  hand  down  what 
people  think  they  have  known. 

564 

If  many  a  man  did  not  feel  obliged  to  repeat 
what  is  untrue,  because  he  has  said  it  once,  the 
world  would  have  been  quite  different. 

565 

Every  man  looks  at  the  world  lying  ready 
before  him,  ordered  and  fashioned  into  a  com- 
plete whole,  as  after  all  but  an  element  out  of 
which  his  endeavour  is  to  create  a  special  world 


SCIENCE  197 

suited  to  himself.  Capable  men  lay  hold  of  the 
world  without  hesitation  and  try  to  shape  their 
course  as  best  they  can;  others  dally  over  it, 
and  some  doubt  even  of  their  own  existence. 

The  man  who  felt  the  full  force  of  this  funda- 
mental truth  would  dispute  with  no  one,  but 
look  upon  another's  mode  of  thought  equally 
with  his  own,  as  merely  a  phenomenon.  For 
we  find  almost  daily  that  one  man  can  think 
with  ease  what  another  cannot  possibly  think  at 
all ;  and  that,  too,  not  in  matters  which  might 
have  some  sort  of  effect  upon  their  common 
weal  or  woe,  but  in  things  which  cannot  touch 

them  at  all. 

566 

There  is  nothing  more  odious  than  the 
majority ;  it  consists  of  a  few  powerful  men  to 
lead  the  way;  of  accommodating  rascals  and 
submissive  weaklings;  and  of  a  mass  of  men 
who  trot  after  them,  without  in  the  least 
knowing  their  own  mind. 

567 

When  I  observe  the  luminous  progress  and 
expansion  of  natural  science  in  modern  times, 
I  seem  to  myself  like  a  traveller  going  east- 


198     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

wards  at  dawn,  and  gazing  at  the  growing  light 
with  joy,  but  also  with  impatience  ;  looking  for- 
ward with  longing  to  the  advent  of  the  full  and 
final  light,  but,  nevertheless,  having  to  turn 
away  his  eyes  when  the  sun  appeared,  unable 
to  bear  the  splendour  he  had  awaited  with  so 
much  desire. 

568 

We  praise  the  eighteenth  century  for  concern- 
ing itself  chiefly  with  analysis.  The  task 
remaining  to  the  nineteenth  is  to  discover  the 
false  syntheses  which  prevail,  and  to  analyse 
their  contents  anew. 

569 

A  school  may  be  regarded  as  a  single  indi- 
vidual who  talks  to  himself  for  a  hundred 
years,  and  takes  an  extraordinary  pleasure  in 
his  own  being,  however  foolish  and  silly  it 
may  be. 

570 

In  science  it  is  a  service  of  the  highest  merit 
to  seek  out  those  fragmentary  truths  attained 
by  the  ancients,  and  to  develop  them  further. 


SCIENCE  199 

571 

If  a  man  devotes  himself  to  the  promotion  of 
science,  he  is  firstly  opposed,  and  then  he  is 
informed  that  his  ground  is  already  occupied. 
At  first  men  will  allow  no  value  to  what  we 
tell  them,  and  then  they  behave  as  if  they  knew 
it  all  themselves. 

572 

Nature  fills  all  space  with  her  limitless  pro- 
ductivity. If  we  observe  merely  our  own  earth, 
everything  that  we  call  evil  and  unfortunate  is 
so  because  Nature  cannot  provide  room  for 
everything  that  comes  into  existence,  and  still 
less  endow  it  with  permanence. 

573 

Everything  that  comes  into  being  seeks  room 
for  itself  and  desires  duration :  hence  it  drives 
something  else  from  its  place  and  shortens  its 
duration. 

574 

There  is  so  much  of  cryptogamy  in  phaner- 
ogamy  that  centuries  will  not  decipher  it. 


200     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

5  75 

What  a  true  saying  it  is  that  he  who  wants 
to  deceive  mankind  must  before  all  things 
make  absurdity  plausible. 

576 

The  further  knowledge  advances,  the  nearer 
we  come  to  the  unfathomable  :  the  more  we 
know  how  to  use  our  knowledge,  the  better  we 
see  that  the  unfathomable  is  of  no  practical 
use. 

577 

The  finest  achievement  for  a  man  of  thought 
is  to  have  fathomed  what  may  be  fathomed,  and 
quietly  to  revere  the  unfathomable. 

578 

The  discerning  man  who  acknowledges  his 
limitations  is  not  far  off  perfection. 

579 

There  are  two  things  of  which  a  man  cannot 
be  careful  enough :  of  obstinacy  if  he  confines 
himself  to  his  own  line  of  thought;  of  incompe- 
tency,  if  he  goes  beyond  it. 


SCIENCE  201 

580 

Incompetency  is  a  greater  obstacle  to  perfec- 
tion than  one  would  think. 


The  century  advances  ;  but  every  individual 
begins  anew. 

582 

What  friends  do  with  us  and  for  us  is  a  real 
part  of  our  life  ;  for  it  strengthens  and  advances 
our  personality.  The  assault  of  our  enemies  is 
not  part  of  our  life  ;  it  is  only  part  of  our  expe- 
rience ;  we  throw  it  off  and  guard  ourselves 
against  it  as  against  frost,  storm,  rain,  hail,  or 
any  other  of  the  external  evils  which  may  be 
expected  to  happen. 

583 

A  man  cannot  live  with  every  one,  and  there- 
fore he  cannot  live  for  every  one.  To  see  this 
truth  aright  is  to  place  a  high  value  upon 
one's  friends,  and  not  to  hate  or  persecute  one's 
enemies.  Nay,  there  is  hardly  any  greater 
advantage  for  a  man  to  gain  than  to  find  out, 
if  he  can,  the  merits  of  his  opponents  :  it  gives1 
him  a  decided  ascendency  over  them. 


202     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

584 

Every  one  knows  how  to  value  what  he  has 
attained  in  life  ;  most  of  all  the  man  who  thinks 
and  reflects  in  his  old  age.  He  has  a  comfort- 
able feeling  that  it  is  something  of  which  no 
one  can  rob  him. 

585 

The  best  metempsychosis  is  for  us  to  appear 
again  in  others. 

586 

It  is  very  seldom  that  we  satisfy  ourselves ; 
all  the  more  consoling  is  it  to  have  satisfied 
others. 

587 

We  look  back  upon  our  life  only  as  on  a 
thing  of  broken  pieces,  because  our  misses  and 
failures  are  always  the  first  to  strike  us,  and 
outweigh  in  our  imagination  what  we  have 
done  and  attained. 

588 

The  sympathetic  youth  sees  nothing  of  this ; 
he  reads,  enjoys,  and  uses  the  youth  of  one  who 
has  gone  before  him,  and  rejoices  in  it  with  all 
his  heart,  as  though  he  had  once  been  what  he 
now  is. 


SCIENCE  203 

5% 

Science  helps  us  before  all  things  in  this,  that 
it  somewhat  lightens  the  feeling  of  wonder 
with  which  Nature  fills  us ;  then,  however,  as 
life  becomes  more  and  more  complex,  it  creates 
new  facilities  for  the  avoidance  of  what  would 
do  us  harm  and  the  promotion  of  what  will  do 
us  good. 

590 

It  is  always,  our  eyes  alone,  our  way  of  look- 
ing at  things.  Nature  alone  knows  what  she 
means  now,  and  what  she  had  meant  in  the 
past. 


NATURE:    APHORISMS 


NATURE:    APHORISMS 

NATURE  !  We  are  surrounded  by  her  and 
locked  in  her  clasp :  powerless  to  leave  her, 
and  powerless  to  come  closer  to  her.  Unasked 
and  unwarned  she  takes  us  up  into  the  whirl 
of  her  dance,  and  hurries  on  with  us  till  we  are 
weary  and  fall  from  her  arms. 

She  creates  new  forms  without  end:  what 
exists  now,  never  was  before ;  what  was,  comes 
not  again ;  all  is  new  and  yet  always  the  old. 

We  live  in  the  midst  of  her  and  are  strangers. 
She  speaks  to  us  unceasingly  and  betrays  not 
her  secret.  We  are  always  influencing  her  and 
yet  can  do  her  no  violence. 

Individuality  seems  to  be  all  her  aim,  and  she 
cares   nought  for  individuals.     She  is   always 
building  and  always  destroying,  and  her  work- 
shop is  not  to  be  approached. 
2*7 


208     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

Nature  lives  in  her  children  only,  and  the 
mother,  where  is  she  ?  She  is  the  sole  artist,  — 
out  of  the  simplest  materials  the  greatest  diver- 
sity; attaining,  with  no  trace  of  effort,  the 
finest  perfection,  the  closest  precision,  always 
softly  veiled.  Each  of  her  works  has  an  essence 
of  its  own ;  every  shape  that  she  takes  is  in  idea 
utterly  isolated ;  and  yet  all  forms  one. 

She  plays  a  drama ;  whether  she  sees  it  her- 
self, we  know  not ;  and  yet  she  plays  it  for  us, 
who  stand  but  a  little  way  off. 

There  is  constant  life  in  her,  motion  and  de- 
velopment ;  and  yet  she  remains  where  she  was. 
She  is  eternally  changing,  nor  for  a  moment 
does  she  stand  still.  Of  rest  she  knows  nothing, 
and  to  all  stagnation  she  has  affixed  her  curse. 
She  is  steadfast;  her  step  is  measured,  her 
exceptions  rare,  her  laws  immutable. 

She  has  thought,  and  she  ponders  unceas- 
ingly; not  as  a  man,  but  as  Nature.  The 
meaning  of  the  whole  she  keeps  to  herself,  and 
no  one  can  learn  it  of  her. 


NATURE:    APHORISMS  209 

Men  are  all  in  her,  and  she  in  all  men.  With 
all  she  plays  a  friendly  game,  and  rejoices  the 
more  a  man  wins  from  her.  With  many  her 
game  is  so  secret,  that  she  brings  it  to  an  end 
before  they  are  aware  of  it. 

Even  what  is  most  unnatural  is  Nature ;  even 
the  coarsest  Philistinism  has  something  of  her 
genius.  Who  does  not  see  her  everywhere,  sees 
her  nowhere  aright. 

She  loves  herself,  and  clings  eternally  to  her- 
self with  eyes  and  hearts  innumerable.  She  has 
divided  herself  that  she  may  be  her  own  delight. 
She  is  ever  making  new  creatures  spring  up  to 
delight  in  her,  and  imparts  herself  insatiably. 

She  rejoices  in  illusion.  If  a  man  destroys 
this  in  himself  and  others,  she  punishes  him 
like  the  hardest  tyrant.  If  he  follows  her  in 
confidence,  she  presses  him  to  her  heart  as  it 
were  her  child. 

Her  children  are  numberless.  To  no  one  of 
them  is  she  altogether  niggardly;  but  she  has 
her  favourites,  on  whom  she  lavishes  much,  and 
for  whom  she  makes  many  a  sacrifice.  Over 


210     MAXIMS  AXD  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

the  great  she   has   spread   the   shield   of   her 
protection. 

She  spurts  forth  her  creatures  out  of  nothing, 
and  tells  them  not  whence  they  come  and 
whither  they  go.  They  have  only  to  go  their 
way :  she  knows  the  path. 

Her  springs  of  action  are  few,  but  they  never 
wear  out:  they  are  always  working,  always 
manifold. 

The  drama  she  plays  is  always  new,  because 
she  is  always  bringing  new  spectators.  Life  is 
her  fairest  invention,  and  Death  is  her  device 
for  having  life  in  abundance. 

She  envelops  man  in  darkness,  and  urges 
him  constantly  to  the  light.  She  makes  him 
dependent  on  the  earth,  heavy  and  sluggish, 
and  always  rouses  him  up  afresh. 

She  creates  wants,  because  she  loves  move- 
ment. How  marvellous  that  she  gains  it  all  so 
easily !  Every  want  is  a  benefit,  soon  satisfied, 
soon  growing  again.  If  she  gives  more,  it  is  a 


NATURE:    APHORISMS  211 

new  source  of  desire ;  but  the  balance  quickly 
rights  itself. 

Every  moment  she  starts  on  the  longest  jour- 
neys, and  every  moment  reaches  her  goal. 

She  amuses  herself  with  a  vain  show;  but  to 
us  her  play  is  all-important. 

She  lets  every  child  work  at  her,  every  fool 
judge  of  her,  and  thousands  pass  her  by  and  see 
nothing ;  and  she  has  her  joy  in  them  all,  and 
in  them  all  finds  her  account. 

Man  obeys  her  laws  even  in  opposing  them: 
he  works  with  her  even  when  he  wants  to  work 
against  her. 

Everything  she  gives  is  found  to  be  good,  for 
first  of  all  she  makes  it  indispensable.  She 
lingers,  that  we  may  long  for  presence;  she 
hurries  by,  that  we  may  not  grow  weary  of  her. 

Speech  or  language  she  has  none;  but  she 
creates  tongues  and  hearts  through  which  she 
feels  and  speaks. 


212     MAXIMS  AND  REFLECTIONS  OF  GOETHE 

Her  crown  is  Love.  Only  through  Love  can 
we  come  near  her.  She  puts  gulfs  between  all 
things,  and  all  things  strive  to  be  interfused. 
She  isolates  everything,  that  she  may  draw 
everything  together.  With  a  few  draughts 
from  the  cup  of  Love  she  repays  for  a  life 
full  of  trouble. 

She  is  all  things.  She  rewards  herself  and 
punishes  herself ;  and  in  herself  rejoices  and  is 
distressed.  She  is  rough  and  gentle,  loving  and 
terrible,  powerless  and  almighty.  In  her  every- 
thing is  always  present.  Past  or  Future  she 
knows  not.  The  Present  is  her  Eternity.  She 
is  kind.  I  praise  her  with  all  her  works. 
She  is  wise  and  still.  No  one  can  force  her 
to  explain  herself,  or  frighten  her  into  a  gift 
that  she  does  not  give  willingly.  She  is  crafty, 
but  for  a  good  end ;  and  it  is  best  not  to  notice 
her  cunning. 

She  is  whole  and  yet  never  finished.  As  she 
works  now,  so  can  she  work  for  ever. 

To  every  one  she  appears  in  a  form  of  his 
own.  She  hides  herself  in  a  thousand  names 
and  terms,  and  is  always  the  same. 


NATURE:    APHORISMS  213 

She  has  placed  me  in  this  world;  she  will 
also  lead  me  out  of  it.  I  trust  myself  to  her. 
She  may  do  with  me  as  she  pleases.  She  will 
not  hate  her  work.  I  did  not  speak  of  her. 
No!  what  is  true  and  what  is  false,  she  has 
spoken  it  all.  Everything  is  her  fault,  every- 
thing is  her  merit. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Absent,  the,  47. 

Absolute,  the,  238. 

Abstractions,  how  destroyed, 
203. 

Absurdities,  229,  575. 

Acquaintances,  new,  432. 

Acquirements,  344. 

Acting  unlike  oneself,  298. 

Activity,  342,  368,  372,  401. 

JSschylus,  saying  of,  121. 

Age,  391. 

Age  and  Youth,  37,  233-4,  237, 
295,  321,  374. 

Ages  of  life,  390. 

Agreement  and  disagreement, 
384. 

Aims,  278,  342,  500. 

Altruism,  167,  214,  583. 

Analogies,  46,  523. 

Analysis,  568. 

Ancient  literature,  447. 

Ancients,  the,  443,  445,  570. 

Anthropomorphism,  165. 

Antiquities,  325. 

Antiquity  and  posterity,  190. 

Architecture,  a  speechless  mu- 
sic, 493. 

Aristotle,  559. 

Art,  492,  494,  499,  508. 

Art  and  Nature,  482-3,  490-1, 
509,512. 


Art  and  the  World,  485-6. 
Artist,  the,  495-8. 
Artistic  criticism,  116. 
Assemblies,  281. 
Attainable,  the,  48. 
Attainments,  584,  587. 
Authority,  534-7. 
Authorship,  418. 

Ballads,  477-8. 
Beauty,  136,  232,  481. 
Bible,  the,  457-9. 
Books,  417,  420,  432,  456. 

Cause  and  effect,  394. 

Century,  the,  and  the  individ- 
ual, 581. 

Character,  367. 

Characteristics,  7,  29,  74,  91, 
110,  179,  291,  297,  311,  344. 

Children,  245-7. 

Christ,  314. 

Classicism,  462-3. 

Clever  folly,  175. 

Common-sense,  49,  217. 

Complications,  45. 

Confession  of  error,  529. 

Confidences,  142. 

Conscience,  125. 

Conscience  and  intellect,  530. 

Contemporaries,  386,  454. 


2I7 


218 


INDEX 


Contradictions,    87,    102,    223, 

288-9,  378,  382. 
Converts,  170. 
Criticism,  146, 182,  304,  456. 
Critique  of  common-sense,  393. 
Critique  of  the  senses,  514. 
Cryptogamy,  574. 
Culture,  328-9,  412. 

Dangerous  men,  275-6. 
Debtor  and  creditor,  282-3. 
Deception,  320,  400. 
Defects,  39. 

Despotism,  advantages  of,  209. 
Dialectic,  379. 
Difficulties,  277-8,  330,  398. 
Dilettanti,  159. 
Discovery,  397,  553. 
Dispositions,  like  and  unlike, 

380. 

Distinctions,  166. 
Doggerel,  506. 
Doing  good,  98. 
Diirer,  Albrecht,  502-3. 
Duties  and  rights,  150. 
Duty,  3,  38,  402. 

Eclecticism,  436-7. 

Education,  444. 

Education,    overpressure    in, 

371. 

Eighteenth  century,  568. 
Emboitement,  theory  of,  550. 
Empirical  morality,  140. 
Encyclopaedia,  the  best,  161. 
Enemies,  582. 
Enemies'  merits,  387,  583. 
Enthusiasm,  211,  471. 
Erasmus,  saying  of,  63. 


Error  and  half-truth,  59,  61, 72, 

564. 

Errors  of  the  age,  521. 
Excellence  unfathomable,  406. 
Existence  of  evil,  572-3. 
Experience,  43,  556. 

Facts  and  theories,  557. 
Facts  and  thoughts,  188. 
Facts  newly  stated,  526. 
Faith,  117. 
False  notions,  5,  200. 
False  tendencies,  64. 
Familiarity,  262. 
Fashion,  392. 
Fastidiousness,  260. 
Faults,  296-7,  299,  304-5. 
Favour,  83. 
Fear,  275. 
Figurative  sayings : 

a  leaf  and  a  bird,  359. 

an  old  man  warming  himself, 
363. 

blowing  the  flute,  16. 

buttoning  one's  coat,  362. 

curds  and  cream,  58. 

dirt  and  the  sun,  99. 

dust  and  the  storm,  66. 

frogs  and  water,  71. 

heroes  and  valets,  272. 

Hindoos  of  the  desert,  106. 

hitting  the  nail,  78. 

lamps  and  the  light  of  heav- 
en, 361. 

lifting  the  stone,  208. 

mankind  and  the  Red  Sea, 
187. 

names  for  the  sea,  95. 

snow,  92. 


INDEX 


219 


Figurative  sayings : 

the      Antipodes,     disputing 
about,  90. 

the    forester    and    the   tree, 
358. 

the  iron  in  the  smithy,  310. 

the  millstream,  42. 

the  rainbow,  115. 

the  sparrow  and  the  stork, 
360. 

the  world  a  bell,  158. 

turnips  and  chestnuts,  507. 
Flattery,  145,  287,  289. 
Fools,  271,  276. 
Forethought,  103. 
Form,  the  human,  513. 
Freedom  and  slavery,  268-9. 
Friends'  defects,  387. 
Friendship,  248,  582. 
Fulfilment  of  desire,  228,  267. 
Fulfilment  of  duty,  38. 
Future,  the,  280. 

General  ideas,  15, 177. 

Generosity,  65. 

Genius,  232,  273,  336-9,  425. 

Gentle  judgments,  124. 

German  art,  501. 

Germans,  the,  326. 

God,  307,  353. 

Godlike,  the,  308. 

Good  advice,  206. 

Good  manners,  254-7,  263-5. 

Good  will  of  others,  34. 

Government,  the  best,  225. 

Graceful  misery,  126. 

Gratitude,  283. 

Great  ideas,  239,  349,  350-2. 

Great  men,  274. 


Great  men  and  little  men,  69, 

119,  271. 

Great  men  and  the  masses,  147. 
Greek  and  Latin,  study  of,  444, 

446. 

Greek  and  Latin  writers,  469. 
Greek  art,  484. 
Greeks,  the,  189,  443,  559. 

Habit,  129. 

Hatred  and  envy,  130. 

Hearing    and    understanding, 

383. 

High  positions,  335. 
Historian's   duty,    the,   452-3, 

455. 

Historic  sense,  450. 
History,  80,  451. 
History  of  knowledge,  55. 
Honour  and  rascality,  144. 
Hope,  194,  280,  315. 
Hypotheses,  560. 

Ideals,  141,  348. 

Ideas  and  sensations,  93. 

Ignorance,  231. 

Illusions,  186. 

Imagination,  how  regulated, 
489. 

Imprudence,  50, 105. 

Incompetence  and  imperfec- 
tion, 17, 18. 

In  competency,  579-80. 

Individuals  and  the  age,  201, 
581. 

Influencing  one's  age,  365. 

Ingratitude,  152. 

Inquiry,  limits  of,  327,  554,  558, 
576-7. 


220 


INDEX 


Insight,  370. 
Intelligence,  322. 
Intention,  334. 

Interest  in  public  events,  331. 
Introspection,  75. 
Investigator,  the  true,  543-4. 
Irregular  circumstances,  143. 
Isolation  of  the  good,  224. 
Italian  art,  505. 

Judgment,  85-6. 
Justice  and  law,  54. 

Kepler,  saying  of,  354. 
Knowledge,  235,  324,  370,  525-6, 

538. 

Knowledge  and  doubt,  178. 
Knowledge  and  new  ideas,  82. 
Knowledge,  branches  of,  539. 
Knowledge  of  one  another,  67- 

70,  251-3. 
Knowledge,  the  contempt  for, 

113. 

Language  and  thought,  317, 407. 

Languages,  knowledge  of,  414. 

Laws,  321. 

Laws,  study  of,  168. 

Lessing,  saying  of,  52. 

Lessons,  139. 

Liberal  ideas,  174,  375. 

Liberality,  the  truest,  385. 

Life,  the  art  of,  101,  192,  282, 

584. 

Limitations,  578. 
Literature  a  fragment,  404-5. 
Literature,  corrupt,  465-7. 
Literature,  new,  409. 
Love,  195,  270. 


Love  of  truth,  28. 
Loving  one's  like,  180. 
Lucidity,  413. 
Lyrics,  421. 

Majorities,  544-6,  566. 
Malignance  of  scholars,  135. 
Man  and  his  organs,  347. 
Masters,  94,  310. 
Mastery,  204. 

Matter,  contents  and  form,  183. 
Maxims  and  anecdotes,  156. 
Maxims  of  the  ancients,  438- 

42. 

Means  and  end,  11. 
Mediocrity,  221,  273. 
Memoirs,  149. 
Memory,  157. 
Men  and  women,  226,  295. 
Metaphysics,  551. 
Metempsychosis,  the  best,  585. 
Method  in  art  and  knowledge, 

112. 

Mischief,  160. 
Misfortunes,  227. 
Mistakes,  13,  40,  153,  162,  210, 

218,  285-6,  524,  561. 
Misunderstanding,  122. 
Moment,  the,  a  kind  of  public, 

369. 

Monarchs  and  the  press,  375. 
Moods,  100. 
Morality,  319. 
Motive,  10. 
Mottoes,  207. 
Music,  488. 

Mysteries  and  miracles,  169. 
Mysticism,  430. 


INDEX 


221 


Napoleon,  240-1. 

National   character,    73,    374, 

429. 

Nature,  572,  590. 
Nature  and  art,  482-3,  490-1, 

509,  512. 

Nature  and  culture,  284,  477. 
Nature-poets,  419. 
Nature,  study  of,  561. 
Newspapers,  23,  375,  461. 

Obscurantism,  88. 
Obscurity  in  an  author,  431. 
Observation    and    conclusion, 

517,  559. 
Obstinacy,  579. 
Opinions,  107,  552. 
Opponents,  381-2. 
Opposition,  88. 

Originality,  1, 134, 409-11, 536-7. 
Origins,  550. 
Ovid,  463. 

Parties,  616. 

Passions,  300-3. 

Past,  the,  138. 

Patience,  357. 

Patriotism  in  art  and  science, 

448. 

Patrons,  133. 

Paying  for  one's  humanity,  173. 
Peace,  53. 

Pedantry,  132,  535,  555. 
Pereant  qui  ante  nos   nostra 

dixerunt  I  333. 
Perfection,  343,  578,  580. 
Perseverance,  193,  537. 
Perversities  of  the  day,  244. 
Pessimism,  131,  184. 


Phenomena,  how  to  approach, 

399. 
Philosophy  and  the  ages  of  life, 

390. 

Piety,  35-6. 
Plain  speaking,  172. 
Plans  and  designs,  12. 
Poetical  talent,  449. 
Poetry,  176. 

Posterity,  the  appeal  to,  408. 
Power  of  conviction,  84. 
Practical   men   and   thinkers, 

395. 

Praising  a  man,  323. 
Prayer,  315. 
Predestination,  355. 
Prejudices,  215. 
Primeval  powers,  236. 
Problem  of  science,  515,  551. 
Problematical  natures,  97. 
Problematical  opinions,  30. 
Problematical  talents,  171. 
Problems,  527. 
Productive  energy,  164. 
Productivity,  415. 
Progress  and  problems,  398. 
Progress,  conflicts  of,  219. 
Progress  of  science,  567. 
Propaedeutics,  212,  511. 
Protestants,  205. 
Prudent  energy,  16. 
Psychology,  433. 
Public,   the,  96,  369,  389,  416, 

541. 

Questions,  532. 

Reason,  4. 

Reformation,  the,  313,  316. 


222 


INDEX 


Religion,  312. 
Religious  controversy,  460. 
Renaissance,  the,  313. 
Revolution,  saying  on  the,  373. 
Revolutionary  sentiments,  216. 
Rhythm,  131. 
Riddles,  62. 
Ridiculous,  the,  291-4. 
Right,  doing  what  is,  77. 
Rocks  of  offence,  306. 
Roland,  Madame,  403. 
Romances,  422. 
Romantic  landscape,  480. 
Romanticism,  462,  464. 

Sakontala,  472. 
Satisfaction,  586. 
Scepticism,  340-1. 
Schiller,  Goethe  and,  434-5. 
Scholar,  the  real,  309. 
Schon,  Martin,  504. 
Schools  of  thought,  569. 
Science :  its  course,  518,  540-1, 

515-6,  567,  570-1,  589. 
Science :  its  problem,  515. 
Sects,  522. 
Self-appreciation,  20,  56,  111, 

249,  366. 

Self-guidance,  21-2,  24-5,  33. 
Self-knowledge,  2. 
Senses,  345-6. 

Senses,  false  tendencies  of,  487. 
Sentimental  poetry,  423. 
Sentimentality,  national,  429. 
Service,  196. 
Shakespeare,  473-5. 
Silence,  32. 

Sincerity  and  impartiality,  151. 
Sketch  s,  510. 


Society,  250. 

Society,  soldiers  and  civilians 

in,  258-9. 

Society,  the  best,  230,  289. 
Soporifics,  76. 
Sowing  and  reaping,  279. 
Spectacles,  261. 
Speech,  382. 

Speech  and  language,  123. 
Speech  and  writing,  377. 
Speeches,  287. 
Spinozism  in  poetry,  427. 
Steady  activity,  154. 
Sterne,  476. 
Subordination,  191. 
Success  in  the  world,  6,  19,  368. 
Superiority  of  another,  270. 
Superstition,  31,  424. 
Symbolism,  202. 

Tact,  26-7. 
Tattle,  148. 
Tattooing,  79. 
Teaching,  519,  562-3. 
Theatre,  effect  of  the,  197. 
Theory,  44,  520,  557. 
Theory  and  experience,  198. 
"Things   of    another   world," 

242-3. 

Thinkers,  416. 
Thinking  for  oneself,  8. 
Thoroughness,  41. 
Thought,  1,  396,  412,  533,  563. 
Thoughts  at  the  close  of  life, 

403. 

Timon,  saying  of,  127. 
Toleration,  356. 
Tradition,  392,  563. 
Tragedies,  470. 


INDEX 


223 


Translation,  426,  479. 

Troubles,  104. 

Truth,  14,  28,  60,  120,  163,  336, 

531,  547,  553. 
Truth  and  error,  108-9, 137, 185, 

199,  213,  468,  528,  549,  552. 
Truth  to  oneself   and   others, 

337. 
Tyranny  of  great  ideas,  51. 

Ultimate  facts,  558. 
Unconditioned,  striving   after 

the,  372. 

Understanding,  81,  383,  388. 
Unfathomable,  the,  576-7. 
Unities,  the  three,  428. 
Unjust  blame,  96. 
Unqualified  activity,  9. 
Use  and  value,  541-2. 

Value  of  each  day,  332. 
Vanitas  vanitatum  !  114. 


Vanity,  376. 

Veni  Creator  Spiritus,  425. 

Visitors,  252-3. 

Voluntary  dependence,  266. 

Vulgarity,  222. 

Wisdom  of  this  world,  307. 

Wishing  people  well,  128. 

Will,  324. 

Word  and  picture,  155. 

Words  of  praise  and  blame, 
468. 

Work,  57. 

Work  for  the  past  and  the  fut- 
ure, 364. 

Work,  how  it  limits  us,  220. 

World,  the,  158,  565. 

Worthiest  lot,  the,  342. 

Youth,  588. 


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CHAPTER  I.  —  A  Week  in  Wales. 
CHAPTER  II.  —  Banbury  Cakes  and  the  Isle  of  Wight 
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CHAPTER  IX.  —  An  Enchanted  Day. 


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"  Mr.  Harrison  furnishes  a  valuable  contribution 
to  the  subject.  It  is  full  of  suggestiveness  and 
shrewd  analytical  criticism.  It  contains  the  fruits  of 
wide  reading  and  rich  research."  —  London  Times. 


HAPPINESS 

Essays  on  the  Meaning  of  Life 

By  CARL  HILTY 

University  of  Bern 

Translated  by  FRANCIS  GREENWOOD  PEABODY 

Plummer  Professor  of  Christian  Morals, 
Harvard  University 

"  The  author  makes  his  appeal  not  to  discussion, 
but  to  life  .  .  .  ;  that  which  draws  readers  to  the 
Bern  professor  is  his  capacity  to  maintain  in  the 
midst  of  important  duties  of  public  service  and 
scientific  activity  an  unusual  detachment  of  desire 
and  an  interior  quietness  of  mind." 

—  New  York  Times. 


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THE  PLEASURES  OF  LIFE 

By  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  JOHN  LUBBOCK 
(Lord  Avebury) 

Author  of  "  The  Use  of  Life,"  "  The  Beauties  of  Nature," 
etc.,  etc. 

CONTENTS 
PART  I 

CHAPTER  I. — The  Duty  of  Happiness.  CHAPTER 
II.— The  Happiness  of  Duty.  CHAPTER  III.  — A 
Song  of  Books.  CHAPTER  IV.  —  The  Choice  of  Books. 
CHAPTER  V.  —  The  Blessing  of  Friends.  CHAPTER 
VI.  — The  Value  of  Time.  CHAPTER  VII.  — The 
Pleasures  of  Travel.  CHAPTER  VI 1 1 .  —  The  Pleasures 
of  Home.  CHAPTER  IX.  —  Science.  CHAPTER  X.-— 
Education. 

PART  II 

CHAPTER  I.  —  Ambition.  CHAPTER  II.  —  Wealth. 
CHAPTER  III. — Health.  CHAPTER  IV.  —  Love. 
CHAPTER  V.  —  Art.  CHAPTER  VI.  —  Poetry.  CHAP- 
TER VII.— Music.  CHAPTER  VIII.  — The  Beauties 
of  Nature.  CHAPTER  IX.  — The  Troubles  of  Life. 
CHAPTER  X.— Labour  and  Rest.  CHAPTER  XI. — 
Religion.  CHAPTER  XII.  —  The  Hope  of  Progress. 
CHAPTER  XIII.  —  The  Destiny  of  Man. 


PARABLES   OF  LIFE 

By  HAMILTON  WRIGHT  MABIE 

Author  of  "  Backgrounds  of  Literature,"    "  William   Shake- 
speare :  Poet,  Dramatist,  and  Man,"  etc. 

Dr.  Henry  van  Dyke  says :  "  Poetic  in  conception, 
vivid  and  true  in  imagery,  delicately  clear  and  beautiful 
in  diction,  these  little  pieces  belong  to  Mr.  Mabie's  finest 
and  strongest  work.  To  read  them  is  to  feel  one's  heart 
calmed,  uplifted,  and  enlarged." 


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BIBLICAL   IDYLS 

EDITED,  WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES,  BY 

RICHARD  G.  MOULTON,  M.A.  (Camb.),Ph.D.  (Pa.) 

Professor  e>f  Literature  in  English  in  the  University 

of  Chicago 

"  It  must  be  that  this  natural  and  rational  arrange- 
ment of  the  different  styles  of  literature  in  the  Bible 
will  commend  the  book  itself  to  people  who  have 
hitherto  neglectod  it,  and  give  to  those  who  have 
read  it  and  studied  it  with  the  greatest  diligence, 
new  satisfaction  and  delight.  I  sincerely  wish  for 
the  enterprise  a  constantly  increasing  success." 
JOHN  H.  VINCENT, 

Chancellor  of  the  Chautauqna 

Literary  and  Scientific  Circle. 


SELECT    MASTERPIECES 
OF  BIBLICAL  LITERATURE 

EDITED,  WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES,  BY 

RICHARD  G.  MOULTON,  M.A.  (Camb.),Ph.D.  (Pa.) 

Editor  of  "  The  Modern  Reader's  Bible,"  etc. 

"Unquestionably  here  is  a  task  worth  carrying 
out  ;  and  it  is  to  be  said  at  once  that  Dr.  Moulton 
has  carried  it  out  with  great  skill  and  helpfulness. 
Both  the  introduction  and  the  notes  are  distinct  con- 
tributions to  the  better  understanding  and  higher 
appreciation  of  the  literary  character,  features,  and 
beauties  of  the  Biblical  books  treated." 

—  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Review. 


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The  Psalms  and  Lamentations 

EDITED,  WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES,  BY 

RICHARD  G.  MOULTON,  M.A.  (Camb.),Ph.D.  (Pa.) 

Editor  of  "  The  Modern  Reader's  Bible,"  etc. 

11  The  effect  of  these  changes  back  to  the  original 
forms  under  which  the  sacred  writings  first  appeared 
will  be,  for  the  vast  majority  of  readers,  a  surprise  and 
delight  ;  they  will  feel  as  if  they  had  come  upon  new 
spiritual  and  intellectual  treasures,  and  they  will  appre- 
ciate for  the  first  time  how  much  the  Bible  has  suffered 
from  the  hands  of  those  who  have  treated  it  without 
reference  to  its  literary  quality.  In  view  of  the  signifi- 
cance and  possible  results  of  Pnofessor  Moulton's  under- 
taking, it  is  not  too  much  to  pronounce  it  one  of  the 
most  important  spiritual  and  literary  events  of  the  times. 
It  is  part  of  the  renaissance  of  Biblical  study  ;  but  it 
may  mean,  and  in  our  judgment  it  does  mean,  the 
renewal  of  a  fresh  and  deep  impression  of  the  beauty 
and  power  of  the  supreme  spiritual  writing  of  the  world." 
• —  The  Outlook,  New  York. 


THE  MAKERS  OF  FLORENCE 

By  Mrs.  OLIPHANT 

Author  of  "  The  Makers  of  Modern  Rome,"  "  The 
Makers  of  Venice,"  etc.,  etc. 

VOLUME  I.  —  Dante  —  The  Cathedral  Builders. 
VOLUME  II.  —  Savonarola  —  The  Piagnoni  Painters. 

"  The  studies  of  character  are  lifelike  and  fair,  and  the 
narrative  portions  are  full  of  picturesque  touches.  .  .  . 
The  book  is  beautifully  illustrated  with  woodcuts  after 
drawings  of  Florentine  buildings,  statues,  and  paintings." 

—  The  Athenaum. 


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Vlll 


The  Golden  Treasury 

Selected  from    the    best  songs  and  lyrical 

poems  in  the  English  language  and 

arranged  with  notes 

BY 
FRANCIS  T.  PALGRAVE 

Late  Professor  of  Poetry  in  the  University  of  Oxford 

Revised  and  Enlarged 

"  This  little  collection  differs,  it  is  believed,  from 
others  in  the  attempt  made  to  include  in  it  all  the 
best  original  lyrical  pieces  and  songs  in  our  language 
(save  a  very  few  regretfully  omitted  on  account  of 
length)  by  writers  not  living,  and  none  besides  the 
best." 


The  Golden  Treasury 

SECOND    SERIES 

Selected   from   the   best   songs    and   lyrical 

poems  in  the  English  language  and 

arranged  with  notes 

BY 
FRANCIS  T.  PALGRAVE 

Late  Professor  of  Poetry  in  the  University  of  Oxford 

Revised  and  Enlarged 


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A  Trip  to  England 

By  GOLDWIN   SMITH 

Author  of  "  The  United  Kingdom,"  "  The  United 
States,"  etc. 

"  A  delightful  little  work,  telling  in  a  most  charm- 
ingly rambling  yet  systematic  way  what  is  to  be  seen 
of  interest  in  England."  —  Chicago  Times. 

"  The  book  makes  an  entertaining  and  useful 
companion  for  travellers  in  England." 

—  Boston  Herald* 


Oxford  and  her  Colleges 

A  View  from  the  Eadcliffe  Library 

By  GOLDWIN   SMITH 

"  The  writer  has  seldom  enjoyed  himself  more 
than  in  showing  an  American  friend  over  Oxford. 
He  has  felt  something  of  the  same  enjoyment  in 
preparing,  with  the  hope  of  interesting  some  Ameri- 
can visitors,  this  outline  of  the  history  of  the  Uni- 
versity and  her  colleges." 

—  From  the  Authors  Preface. 


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LIFE  AND  ART  OF 

EDWIN  BOOTH 

By  WILLIAM  WINTER 

"  It  is  a  wholly  successful   piece  of  biographical 
writing,  and  a  worthy  picture  of  the  beautiful  char- 
acter of  one  of  the  Americans   concerning  whose 
right  to  be  called  a  genius  there  will  be  no  dispute." 
—  Philadelphia  Inquirer. 

"  At  once  tender  and  reverent,  written  with  the 
grace,  fervor,  and  beauty  of  diction  which  character- 
ize this  critic's  work.  It  is  a  fascinating  and  able 
book." — Hartford  Courant. 


OLD  SHRINES  AND  IVY 

By  WILLIAM  WINTER 

"  Whatever  William  Winter  writes  is  marked  by 
felicity  of  diction  and  by  refinement  of  style,  as  well 
as  by  the  evidence  of  culture  and  wide  reading. 
'  Old  Shrines  and  Ivy  *  is  an  excellent  example  of  the 
charm  of  his  work."  —  Boston  Courier. 


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Shadows    of  the  Stage 

FIRST  SERIES 
By  WILLIAM  WINTER 

"There  is  in  these  writings  the  same  charm  of 
style,  poetic  glamour,  and  flavor  of  personality  which 
distinguishes  whatever  comes  to  us  from  Mr.  Win- 
ter's pen,  and  which  makes  them  unique  in  our 
literature."  —  New  York  Home  Journal. 


Shadows   of   the  Stage 

SECOND  SERIES 
By  WILLIAM  WINTER 

"  Mr.  Winter  has  long  been  known  as  the  fore- 
most of  American  dramatic  critics,  as  a  writer  of  very 
charming  verse,  and  as  a  master  in  the  lighter  veins 
of  English  prose."  —  Chicago  Herald. 


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Shadows   of  the  Stage 

THIRD    SERIES 
By  WILLIAM  WINTER 

"  He  has  the  poise  and  sure  judgment  of  long  experi- 
ence, the  fine  perception  and  cultured  mind  of  a  litttra- 
teur  and  man  of  the  world,  and  a  command  of  vivid  and 
flexible  language  quite  his  own.  One  must  look  far  for 
anything  approaching  it  in  the  way  of  dramatic  criti- 
cism ;  only  Lamb  could  write  more  delightfully  of  actors 
and  acting.  .  .  .  Mr.  Winter  is  possessed  of  that  quality 
invaluable  to  a  play-goer,  a  temperament  finely  recep- 
tive, sensitive  to  excellence ;  and  this  it  is  largely  which 
gives  his  dramatic  writings  their  value.  Criticism  so 
luminous,  kindly,  genial,  sympathetic,  and  delicately 
expressed  fulfils  its  function  to  the  utmost." 

—  Milwaukee  Sentinel. 


Shakespeare's     England 

By  WILLIAM  WINTER 

11  He  offers  something  more  than  guidance  to  the 
American  traveller.  He  is  a  convincing  and  eloquent 
interpreter  of  the  august  memories  and  venerable  sanc- 
tities of  the  old  country."  —  Saturday  Review. 

"The  book  is  delightful  reading." 

—  Scribner's  Monthly. 

"Enthusiastic  and  yet  keenly  critical  notes  and  com- 
ments on  English  life  and  scenery."  —  Scotsman. 


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AMIEL'S  JOURNAL 

The  Journal  Intime  of  Henri-Frederic  Amiel 
Translated,  with  an  Introduction  and  Notes 

By  Mrs.  HUMPHRY  WARD 

Author  of  "  The  History  of  David  Grieve,"  etc.,  etc. 

"A  wealth  of  thought  and  a  power  of  expression 
which  would  make  the  fortune  of  a  dozen  less  able 
works."  —  Churchman. 

14  A  work  of  wonderful  beauty,  depth,  and  charm.  .  .  . 
Will  stand  beside  such  confessions  as  St.  Augustine's 
and  Pascal's.  ...  It  is  a  book  to  converse  with  again 
and  again ;  fit  to  stand  among  the  choicest  volumes  that 
we  esteem  as  friends  of  our  souls."  —  Christian  Register. 


The  Friendship  of  Nature 

A  New  England  Chronicle  of  Birds  and  Flowers 

By  MABEL  OSGOOD   WRIGHT 

Author  of  "  Birdcraft,"  "  Tommy  Anne  and  the  Three 
Hearts,"  etc.,  etc. 

"A  charming  chronicle  it  is,  abounding  in  excellent 
descriptions  and  interesting  comment." 

—  Chicago  Evening  Journal. 

11  The  author  sees  and  vividly  describes  what  she  sees. 
But  more,  she  has  rare  insight  and  sees  deeply,  and  the 
most  precious  things  lie  deep." 

—  Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 


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